


Gallifrey Rises

by crazygirlne



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Drama, F/M, Gallifrey, Pete's World, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-19
Updated: 2014-02-07
Packaged: 2018-02-21 10:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2464232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazygirlne/pseuds/crazygirlne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How will Rose and her part-human Doctor adjust to their new lives when they discover that the events of The Day of the Doctor have sent Gallifrey to Pete’s World’s dimension?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Giving In

**Author's Note:**

> Canon compliant at time of writing; takes place in Pete's World other than a few points that match up with their various episodes. 
> 
> Beta: Scullywolf

Rose watched, disbelieving, as the TARDIS dematerialized. She felt the Doctor take her hand and rubbed her thumb along his, reassuringly, habitually, before she could consciously register that the man who was disappearing in front of her was also standing right by her side.

She turned to look at him as he did the same, and for a moment, she could only stare into his familiar eyes. As she remembered his words, the ones she'd waited for so long to hear, she let go of his hand to fling her arms around him, squeezing him tightly as he wrapped his own arms around her and buried his face in her neck.

O~O~O~O~O~O

Rose's quarters at Torchwood were rather like a nice hotel room, functional but not uncomfortable. Immediately inside the door was a big-enough room with a large bed, a desk, a sofa, and a television. There was a tiny kitchen at the back of the room and an en suite off to one side.

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she and the Doctor entered the room, finally able to relax and be alone after the long trip home from the beach. Behind her, the Doctor closed the door, and she turned to face him. The Doctor visibly relaxed, muscles less tense, posture less stiff, as he let out a breath and returned Rose's gaze.

Getting home from Bad Wolf Bay had taken some time, but Pete had been prepared for the possibility of their arrival in Norway, so travel had already been arranged. Jackie had talked nearly non-stop the whole way. She did apologize briefly, explaining that she'd thought of so many things to say when she didn't think Rose would be coming back with her, and Rose didn't want to interrupt after that. They had finally arrived back at Torchwood, and Pete, an arm around Jackie's shoulders, had instructed Rose and the Doctor to get some rest and report back in with him the next day.

Now, the two of them finally alone in the room that had served as her home for years, Rose looked at the man she was in love with, trying to wrap her head around the fact that he had changed again, possibly even more drastically than the last time, but he still looked just the same. She placed her hand on his chest as she had on the beach, feeling his single heartbeat.

"Let's sit down," she said, moving her head to indicate the small sofa. "We should probably talk, yeah?"

The Doctor's brown eyes flicked to Rose's lips briefly before returning to hers.

"Right," he responded, uncharacteristically short on words.

Rose removed her hand and moved to sit, positioning herself facing toward the middle of the sofa so that she'd be able to look at him comfortably while they spoke.

The Doctor sat on the other side of the sofa and arranged himself similarly, their knees touching lightly in the center of the seat. He ran a hand through his hair and cleared his throat.

"So," he started, looking down at the floor for a moment before returning his gaze to Rose, "here we are, then."

"Here we are," Rose replied with a little smile. She started picking nervously at her trousers. "I'm sorry. I know you already explained, but...you're still the Doctor, yeah?"

"I'm still me," he told her, voice steady.

"It's just…" she looked back at him and then away before continuing. "It's hard, right? Because if you're still you, well, you left me. Again. But how can I be mad at you about that when you're right here, you know?"

The Doctor pulled on his ear.

"Yeah, the personal pronouns might be a bit confusing for a while. Of course, English is woefully inadequate in that respect, among others. Did you know that the primary language for the planet Urganeez actually has…." He paused when Rose smirked at him, unable to help herself. "Well, that's not relevant right now, is it? Anyway, yes, I left, but I'm also right here, and I know that's got to be confusing for you. It's rather a unique situation for me, too. Never been two of me at once, not without some mucking about in the time lines, at any rate. Plus," he rubbed his chest absently, "few things different this time."

Rose leaned forward to touch him again, covering the hand that was still over his single heart. The Doctor froze, unsure of how Rose was going to act.

"I think," she said slowly, watching their hands, "that I can deal with it, accept that you're still you, as long as you're okay with it if I'm still mad at you sometimes." She looked up to meet the Doctor's eyes, taking a steadying breath when she realized how close his face now was, his expression both serious and expectant as he waited for her to continue. "But you can't leave me again. First the Gamestation, then Canary Wharf, and then Bad Wolf Bay... I love you, but I can't trust you if you keep doing this."

The Doctor moved his free hand to take hers and held it tightly as he spoke.

"You promised me forever," he said, "and now it's my turn. I'm going to try my best to be more open with you, Rose, but I'm never going to be the sort to share everything I think or feel. I promise you, though, I'm not going to leave you again," he finished seriously before his mouth curved slowly into a smile. "Well, might have to leave you now and then, you know, for using the loo and the like."

Rose laughed, then resumed a thoughtful expression.

"How long is forever gonna be, anyway?" she asked.

"I'll have to run some tests, but I expect I'll have a normal human lifespan, maybe a few years longer." He rubbed the back of his neck with the hand that wasn't holding hers. "There'll be a few things like that I need to figure out tomorrow. Not used to this, not being able to read my body very well. My mind seems fully intact, but when I try to use it to examine something inside of me or affect hormone levels or the like," he explained with a bit of a frown, "it's just not nearly as effective as usual."

Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" he asked, a little confused.

"And what have you been needing to affect hormone levels for?" she asked coyly.

"Ah. That. Well," he started, clearing his throat and blushing slightly. Before he could decide on an appropriate response, Rose adjusted her weight, leaned forward further, and pressed her lips to his.

The kiss was tentative at first, slow and seeking as they got reacquainted. When the Doctor moved a hand to her waist, Rose moaned softly, and the Doctor took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. Their lips moved faster, tongues searching, and the Doctor tried to pull Rose closer, but she pulled back, breaking the kiss, panting slightly as she collected her thoughts, gratified to hear that the Doctor's breathing was as ragged as her own.

"We're not done talking yet," she said when she found her voice, "and if we cross that line again, there's not gonna be any more talking tonight."

The Doctor sighed.

"I suppose it wouldn't help to say I'm okay with that?" he asked lightly, and a glance at his face confirmed he was mostly joking, perfectly content to skip the talking for now but willing to continue if it was what Rose needed.

Rose smiled.

"We can get more comfortable, at least," she told him, turning around to face away from him. He stretched his legs along the sofa and she sat between them, leaning her back against his chest as he wrapped his arms tightly around her, nuzzling her neck and taking in her scent.

Rose covered his arms with hers, enjoying the feel of being held by her Doctor.

"I missed this," she said quietly.

"Mmm," the Doctor hummed in agreement.

"You're going to need a name, you know," said Rose, "for paperwork and things like that."

The Doctor took his face away from her neck so he could speak.

"I can't just go by 'the Doctor' for things like getting a mortgage, I suppose, can I?" he said, his tone falling just short of a whine.

Rose chuckled.

"No, I don't think they'll let you sign your name that way," she replied.

The Doctor was silent for a moment, and Rose could practically feel how hard he was thinking.

"I can't think of anything at the moment that means 'Doctor' and wouldn't get the same reaction as if I kept my name," he said. "But 'Jason' means 'healer.' I think I could live with 'Jason,' as long as you still call me 'Doctor' in private," he finished, waiting for her response.

"I'm okay with that," she said. "I'm sure Dad can figure out the paperwork so you're an official doctor, so I can maybe get away with calling you by your name in public sometimes, too."

The Doctor grinned and made a happy sound.

"I could earn all sorts of doctorates, me," he said. "Have a few already, of course, but they won't be on record here. Could probably create a few new degrees of my own, really."

"Not sure it works quite that way, Doctor," said Rose teasingly. "What about a surname, then?"

The Doctor stilled.

"Well," he said, swallowing, "I was rather hoping you'd help me choose a last name, since I'd like to share it with you someday."

Rose worked to keep her breathing steady, needing to clarify but not wanting him to think she was rejecting him.

"That's rather domestic, innit?" she asked casually.

"I suppose," he told her carefully, "but then, it's just another way of saying 'forever,' isn't it? And we've already done that."

Rose leaned her head back to rub against the Doctor's cheek.

"Then choosing a name together sounds perfect, Doctor," she said, and he pulled her even closer, letting her feel his heart race against her back. "Though I might need a little while to adjust first before I take it as mine, too, yeah?"

"Of course," he said in a rush. "I know this isn't what you'd pictured…."

Rose interrupted.

"I pictured being with you, Doctor," she told him firmly. "Everything else, it's just the details."

The Doctor buried his face back into her neck again, enjoying the feel of her for a moment before she yawned.

"We need to get your paperwork sorted before we can talk about the paperwork involved in sharing a name. Maybe we should choose a surname for you tomorrow, though, yeah? We need to decide before meeting with Dad, but I'm a bit knackered right now, and I'm afraid we'll pick something like, I dunno, 'Fluffernutter.'"

The Doctor made a sound of agreement, but neither made a move toward the bed, content to lie entwined on the sofa.

"How long will it take the TARDIS coral to grow?" asked Rose after a moment of comfortable silence.

"Assuming I can get the right equipment quickly enough from Pete," answered the Doctor, "the TARDIS should be ready for us in, oh, fifteen months, two days, three hours, and ten minutes, roughly speaking."

Rose snorted.

"Still have your sense of time, then?" she commented.

"Yup!" the Doctor replied, popping his 'p' and wiggling slightly. "I've still got an impressive mind."

"Hmm," said Rose thoughtfully, "is there anything else you've got that's still impressive?"

The Doctor stilled again with a different sort of tension this time, and he loosened his grip so that he could run his fingers along Rose's sides, then along the strip of skin between her jacket and trousers.

"I may need help investigating that," he told her. "Would you care to be my assistant?"

In response, Rose twisted around to kiss him once, then twice. She got off the sofa with a grin and moved toward the bed, holding a hand out invitingly.

The Doctor didn't hesitate to join her, scooping her into his arms to land them both on the bed at the same time, kissing the resulting giggle from her mouth.

For several minutes, the only sounds were breathy moans and sighs.

"Missed this, too," managed Rose after various barriers were removed.

The Doctor moved a hand to her temple, tentatively.

"May I?" he asked softly, looking into her eyes.

"Please, Doctor," replied Rose, covering his hand with her own as had become her habit whenever the Doctor craved a temporary telepathic connection during their intimate moments.

He rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes as he concentrated on merging his mind with the mind of the lovely woman who waited trustingly beneath him.

The Doctor froze.

He was able to sense Rose's presence as usual, yes, but he also felt another. More than one other. In his mind, the mind that had been a lonely place for so long, the Doctor was suddenly conscious of a whole planet-full of familiar, telepathic presences that he hadn't felt since before he'd met Rose.


	2. A Long Way from Home

_The Doctor froze._

_He was able to sense Rose's presence as usual, yes, but he also felt another. More than one other. In his mind, the mind that had been a lonely place for so long, the Doctor was suddenly conscious of a whole planet-full of familiar, telepathic presences that he hadn't felt since before he'd met Rose._

"What is it, Doctor?" asked Rose, concerned.

"But that's...that's impossible," said the Doctor, rolling away from her to think.

Rose sat up, placing a hand on his shoulder as he swung his legs over the side of the bed so he could sit upright. She felt him fighting to get his breathing under control in his newly-limited body.

"It can't be. It just can't," he continued.

"What can't?" prompted Rose gently.

The Doctor finally managed to take a few deep breaths.

"Since...ever since the war, I've kept my mental shields in place," he explained slowly, haltingly. "I mean, I kept them open at first, of course, searching, hoping to find… But I never found anybody, not that way, and the silence was so loud, almost deafening. Imagine being surrounded by people your whole life, only to have them all gone."

Rose stroked his back and stayed quiet, listening.

"We're taught to shield, to keep people out of our minds when the need arises. It's a different sort of silence, intentional, so it was easier, and… I just kept the walls up. Unless I was actively using my telepathy, my shields have been in place. Of course, there were times that things broke through, like the Ood song, but they were… I don't think they were on the same frequency, so to speak. Wasn't something I thought to block, almost subconscious rather than active communication or the kind of background noise that is put out by some of the more cerebral races. But now…" The Doctor rubbed his fingertips lightly over his temples before continuing. "I can feel them, Rose."

He let go of his temples and twisted around to face Rose, his eyes wide, jaw slack, lips parted slightly.

"It's Gallifrey, Rose. Gallifrey, the whole planet, it's here. It's in this parallel, and that's impossible," he finished, and Rose pulled him to her, holding on a long moment even though he remained still, frozen.

She pulled back far enough to see his face.

"This could be a good thing, though, right Doctor? Having your people back?" Rose asked hesitantly, having long been aware that the Doctor always felt his people's absence despite the darkness she'd heard snippets of.

He shook his head.

"I wish that were the case, but it's not," he told her. "If Gallifrey's back, it means all of existence is at risk, just as much as it was in the hands of Davros. There were… Not the majority of them, no, but some of the most powerful Time Lords, they thought we would be better off if we lost all physical form and existed only as consciousness. They wanted to destroy existence, Rose, and just sit back and watch. I couldn't… That was worse than the Daleks. The time war, it was leading to this collapse, and I had to." The Doctor met her eyes, really seeing her for the first time in several minutes. "There wasn't a better way. I ended it. I had to. So if they're back, it's not… At worst, all of existence is at risk again. At best, I'm likely Gallifrey's top criminal right now. Attempted genocide isn't the way to win popularity contests. Well, unless you're a Dalek."

Rose held both of his hands as he continued calming back down, relieved he was recovering enough to attempt jokes.

"I can feel them all," he said, "but I'm not going to try to communicate until I know what happened. In fact, I'm putting my shields back in place. If I wasn't noticed yet, maybe I have a chance of staying unnoticed."

"Alright," said Rose, keeping her voice calm and matter-of-fact, an ability she'd strengthened over her years of working with Torchwood. "What's the next step, Doctor?"

"Equipment. I need… I need to see. I know it is, but I need to _see_ that Gallifrey is really here in this dimension, and where it is, exactly." The Doctor squeezed Rose's hands briefly. "That's next. After that, I need to find some way of knowing what happened. I destroyed them, Rose. So how are they here?"

She let go of one hand to touch his cheek, and he leaned into her palm, closing his eyes briefly.

"Let's get dressed then, Doctor, and we'll go see what Torchwood has that can help," Rose told him firmly, squeezing his hand one last time before letting go and moving to get off the bed.

As soon as her feet touched the floor, she felt the Doctor's hands swinging her around to face him, and she was pulled into his embrace immediately. She wrapped her arms just as quickly back around him, and the Doctor would have been able to tell her that they stood that way for two minutes and thirty-two seconds before pulling apart, but instead, he covered Rose's mouth in a soft, open-mouthed, no-tongue kiss, trying to show her his love and appreciation where his words so often failed. When he broke the kiss, Rose blinked before clearing her throat and speaking.

"Should probably get dressed now, yeah?" she said, raising an eyebrow before she started gathering her own clothes.

"Did you know that denim trousers were originally a poor imitation of a fishermen's cloth?" said the Doctor, startling Rose as she shimmied into her own pair of trousers she'd retrieved from a dresser drawer. "The French were unable to reproduce the Genoese cloth, and the result ended up being tweaked until it was similar to the material used in modern day London."

The Doctor paused, frowning, as he finished buttoning his shirt.

"Well, that's how they came about in our universe. I suppose the story could be different here," he finished, and Rose smiled at him.

"We'll find out, alright?" she said, grabbing her key card and reaching out a hand to the Doctor. He took her hand and they left her room, making their way through the quiet halls of Torchwood's lodging area, speaking in low voices until they reached the lift, mindful of the fact that it was nearly midnight.

"The rooms aren't quite soundproof," explained Rose. "That's actually on the upgrade list for the building. Many of Torchwood's officers get pretty upset when their sleep is interrupted, especially since we do man all three shifts, so plenty of people are sleeping during the day, typically. Today was a public holiday, in this world, National Cheesy Chips Day or something silly like that. Of course, I got some rather odd looks for some of the holidays we celebrated back home, so I suppose it's all in how you look at it."

They stepped onto the lift as the Doctor made a sound of agreement.

"Holidays are fascinating. You can learn so much about a culture by what it values enough to give its employees a day off the job for." He stopped a moment, looking thoughtful as Rose selected the floor they needed for the observation lab. "Of course, you can also learn a lot by what holidays they don't grant. Want to avoid those planets, the ones that never give a day off. Not much fun, those; everybody's too busy working to do any entertaining, but that way of life is too entrenched in most of those cultures for me to do anything to help. At that point, either everyone accepts it or pressure builds until there's a violent overthrow of the government. Whichever applies, it's usually a fixed point that I can't change. Luckily, I can still see time lines, so we shouldn't have any worries about that once we start traveling. Well, no more than usual."

He looked at Rose to find her grinning, her mouth forming a wide smile as a hint of tongue poked distractingly through her teeth.

"What?" he asked, tearing his eyes away from her tongue and up to her eyes.

"I missed this," she told him. "Missed you."

He squeezed her hand and looked toward the opening lift doors, surprised to see an armed, uniformed guard waiting on the other side.

"Need to see your authorization, Miss Tyler," the man said gruffly.

"Well, why do you need to see it if you already know who she is?" protested the Doctor as Rose retrieved her ID card. "Bit of a waste of time, isn't it?"

"It's a standard security measure, Doctor," said Rose patiently. "Besides, we've had some encounters with shape shifting aliens, so it's not like a visual confirmation is always enough. Plus, since I live here, I have to have my KID card with me, anyway. And," she continued, "my clearance goes high enough that I can escort someone else onto the premises."

She arched an eyebrow at the Doctor as she returned her card to her pocket.

"'KID card?" asked the Doctor, ignoring the rest of her explanation as they continued down the corridor toward the observation lab.

"Key and Identification card," answered Rose. "Our clothing doesn't always allow us to carry much, especially when we're getting ready for a mission, and most of the sort who work for Torchwood above the basic security levels weren't really keen on the idea of chipped implants."

"Doesn't that pose a risk, though? Taking a card with that much potential into risky situations?" the Doctor wondered aloud.

Rose took the card back out of her pocket, and the Doctor was momentarily distracted by the hint of skin that showed at her midriff while she dug it out of her tight jeans.

"We have measures in place for that, too," she said, handing him the card.

As soon as he touched it, her photo and the barcode vanished, the entire piece of plastic turning a bright shade of purple.

"DNA encoded? Fascinating," said the Doctor, studying the bit of technology before handing it back to Rose, watching it resume its normal state as he let go.

"As soon as we get you a name, I'm sure Dad will have a card made for you, especially if we decide to stay here together instead of moving," said Rose, turning to an unmarked door on their right and swiping her card, opening the door when the reader flashed green.

The Doctor responded with a non-committal hum as he took in the equipment that now surrounded them, letting the door close behind him as he followed Rose into the room.

"Ohh," he said suddenly, catching sight of a computer-like device, "is that a Heterodontan Biorhythm Analyzer?"

"Yeah, think so," answered Rose cautiously. "Is that going to help?"

"Nope!" replied the Doctor cheerfully. "Well, not unless we decide to investigate the life cycle of clams. Oh! Here we go," he said, moving to another piece of equipment.

"I don't come in here often," said Rose as she watched him study the device. "No need since I usually stick to the missions and such, leave the background work to the experts. Was a little more involved with the dimension canon, but I had the most void stuff for them to study. It clung to me a little longer, for some reason."

The Doctor eyed Rose briefly, and she wondered whether she was going to have to argue with him if she decided to keep fulfilling Torchwood missions.

"So what's this do?" she asked him, taking the focus off of herself.

"It's basically a fancy electronic telescope," he explained, "only it uses a non-terrestrial version of sonar to give a more accurate description of what it's seeing." He frowned. "This Torchwood has encountered Herrapinions, then?"

"Yeah," said Rose, "but it was before I started here, before Dad took over."

The Doctor typed quickly on the non-standard keyboard as he watched the screen that displayed something resembling binary code, and Rose fought a yawn.

"'M seriously knackered," she said, dragging first one, then another computer chair from other stations, giving one to the Doctor, who sat gratefully, before collapsing in the other herself.

"I'm not sure yet how much sleep I'll need," said the Doctor a bit absently. "Since I have a Time Lord mind, I'm unlikely to ever need as much sleep as you lot, but having this body means I'll need more than I'm used to."

The Doctor got up and moved to another station, studying a device briefly before retrieving the sonic screwdriver from his inside pocket and activating it in the direction of the machine in front of him.

Rose blinked.

"How've you got a sonic?" she asked. "Didn't the other Doctor have it?"

"Oh," he said, pausing and looking at the sonic briefly before continuing his work. "First time I met Martha, ended up having to sacrifice my sonic to save the Earth. Worth it, of course, but a bit inconvenient, so I started carrying a spare. Lucky I still had one in this suit."

He went back to the Herrapinion device he'd been working with and sat down, resuming typing. Rose watched him, listening to the sound of his typing, and closed her eyes.

After twelve minutes, forty-eight seconds of silence, the Doctor spoke.

"That should about do it for now. Can't find anything tonight, unfortunately. Well, this morning, technically, as it's after midnight now. Rather arbitrary, though, choosing midnight as the start of a new day, isn't? Who starts a day at midnight? Well, aside from Alumarians, of course."

When there was no response, the Doctor turned to look at Rose, who'd slumped to one side in her chair and was very much asleep.

He watched for just a moment, happy beyond any words in the English language; he was with Rose, and she was with him, and they could finally share a forever. He got up and walked over to her, stroking her arm gently.

"Rose," he said softly, "let's head back to your room."

Rose woke, startled, taking in a deep breath. Her eyes darted around the room before settling on the Doctor's face.

"Did you find it?" she asked him.

The Doctor shook his head.

"No, but I activated the scan that will locate it," he answered. "It's going to take at least nine hours, though, and that's after accelerating the process significantly." He rubbed his neck, looking uncomfortable. "My need for sleep seems to have kicked in. As much as I'd love to pick up where we left off before I got, erm, distracted, I think we're both a bit too sleep deprived for that."

Rose started giggling, and the Doctor stared at her.

"Sleep deprived. Doctor, you've never slept in that body before, have you?" she asked, seeming disproportionately amused.

"Yup," said the Doctor, "it's time to sleep."

He reached out a hand to help her up, and the two walked together back to her room, hand in hand, each falling asleep as soon as they were comfortable in bed, the Doctor's arms wrapped around Rose and Rose's head contentedly resting over his single heart.


	3. Looking for an Answer

After seven hours, forty-three minutes, twenty-seven seconds of sleep, the Doctor woke, a smile on his face. He'd expected nightmares after so much had happened in such a short period of time. Instead, his primary thought was for the woman his arms were wrapped firmly around.

He inhaled deeply, breathing in her scent, grateful for his still-superior senses. They were on their sides, the Doctor's chest pressed against Rose's back. Rose was stirring, too, pressing into him pleasantly as she grew closer to consciousness. The Doctor felt when she woke fully; she stiffened for just a moment, then she turned in his arms so she was facing him.

"Hello," she said, smile stretching slowly across her face.

"Hello," he responded, leaning forward for a kiss.

"Wait, Doctor," said Rose, and he pulled back, concerned.

"What is it?" he asked, voice breaking slightly.

"It's just that… I need… We sort of got interrupted last night, yeah? Do we have time?" she queried hesitantly.

The Doctor grinned.

"We have at least an hour," he replied. "And besides, if we're a few minutes late, it's not likely to change anything in a big way, especially since we still have to get some ID for me before we go far."

"That's right," said Rose, moving in to finish the kiss he'd tried to start, "can't forget that."

O~O~O~O~O~O

When they finally arrived at the observation lab, happy, sated, and newly focused, they were only twenty-six minutes later than the Doctor had originally planned.

"Did you know, Rose Tyler," said the Doctor after verifying they were alone in the lab, "that sex has actually been shown to enhance the ability to study through improving focus? It's a brilliant method, if I do say so myself."

Rose grinned at him.

"Imagine how much faster I could've had the Dimension Cannon done, then, if I'd been shagging in between experiments," she said.

"No, ta," he replied, moving to the device he'd spent the most time on at their last visit. "Having you with me sooner would have been fantastic," he clarified, "but you may have noticed I have a little trouble sharing."

Rose laughed.

"A little trouble, Doctor? You got jealous of a cat," she said, her tongue between her teeth.

The Doctor paused to look at her.

"Yeah, well… a bit. Might have a tendency toward the irrational sort of jealousy when my focus is lacking, and we hadn't started shagging yet. Shagging Rose Tyler is great for the rational parts of my mind," he told her, darting a glance at her mouth before returning his attention to the computer.

Rose smiled again and pulled out her mobile to arrange for access to the medical facilities and a meeting with Pete, and the Doctor tapped away at the foreign keyboard.

After pressing "send" on the text to her dad, Rose was startled by the Doctor's, "Aha!"

"Did it work?" she asked, moving to stand next to him. None of the characters on the display made any sense to Rose since it was a combination of normal-looking numbers and alien-looking text, not that she'd actually consciously seen much in the way of alien text with the Doctor since the TARDIS had nearly always translated. She'd had more exposure to alien languages in her time with Torchwood, but there'd never been a real reason for her to study the written versions since her interactions were rarely of the textual variety, usually limited to verbal communication and occasionally physical interactions when translators and negotiations failed.

"Yes, it did," he replied, studying the screen intently.

The Doctor's shoulders were tense, his arms stiff, his eyes reading the same few lines of text repeatedly.

"It's confirmed. Gallifrey is here. Well, not _here_ here," he amended. "It's in its native galaxy, the position it should be in if Gallifrey existed in other dimensions. Except it doesn't!" He ran a hand through his hair. "But somehow, it does. I don't understand, and I'm very clever."

"We'll figure it out, Doctor," said Rose encouragingly. "What's the next step?"

The Doctor got up from his chair and spun around, moving back to the second, smaller device he'd worked with earlier that day.

"This," explained the Doctor with some of his typical enthusiasm, "will allow me to create a Time Lord detector. I'll need to visit medical first so I can calibrate it not to react to me, but then we should be able to narrow down the location of any Time Lords on the planet. Don't want to go to Gallifrey unless we have to. It might be the most logical way to gather information about the current state of Gallifreyan politics and motives, yes, but it would also essentially be an invasion since neither of us has been invited, and I don't particularly have any desire to go there, anyway, at least not until it's on our terms. We do need to find out what's going on with the High Council, though, and we may not have the luxury of waiting until our TARDIS is ready in order to find out; they could destroy existence before then, if they wanted to. Besides, talking to just one Time Lord to get the information we need will be safer for us than dealing with the whole planet." He paused, blinking. "Well, in theory, at any rate."

"Is there anything else we can do in here right now?" asked Rose after checking her mobile.

The Doctor glanced again at the machine that had located Gallifrey before responding.

"No. I just need to shut the Sonalocatator down," he said. "We don't need anyone else interested in Gallifrey if we can avoid it."

The Doctor put the second device, about the size of a large book, into an inner pocket, and Rose wondered how he was going to cope if he had to start wearing clothes with normal pockets rather than transdimensional ones. He shut down the device he wasn't taking with him and then followed Rose out of the lab and toward Pete's office.

"We need to get your paperwork first so that we can get you clearance to the med lab," said Rose as they walked. "Even Dad can't get you in there without getting you some ident first. Then we'll go to the med lab, and maybe you can run what tests you need to while you're calibrating your… Time Lord locator, yeah?"

"That sounds like a rather efficient plan," said the Doctor, taking a couple of extra steps to catch Rose's hand and walk by her side rather than behind her. "You've been in a position of leadership here, haven't you?"

"Yeah," she agreed, "I have. Led a squad on missions for two years before switching to the Dimension Cannon project full time. Been good for me, I think. I don't wander off so much since that meant leaving my people unprepared, but I'm better able to handle myself if something comes up and I'm alone. Pretty good at incapacitating people instead of killing them, armed or not. S'hard to do when someone wants you dead."

They took the stairs up to the next floor, where Pete's office was located, Rose displaying her KID card at each of the checkpoints between them and their destination, trading stories as they went.

"'Course, that did mean I had to walk the three miles back without shoes on," Rose was saying as they entered her father's office after his secretary indicated he was expecting them. "Couldn't walk straight for a month."

"And that wouldn't have happened if you'd checked in like you should have," said Pete, giving Rose a mock glare since enough time had passed for any real frustration to have faded.

"Hullo, Dad," said Rose, making herself comfortable in one of the two chairs in front of his desk as the Doctor sat in the other a bit more stiffly.

"Rose, Doctor," responded Pete with a friendly nod at each. "So, we're setting up identifications and clearances for you today. Everything is ready to go and should be done in an hour, just as soon as you let me know what name to put on the paperwork," he said, stylus hovering over his tablet as he waited for the Doctor's alias.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, we might have, sort of, forgotten to pick a surname last night," he explained, looking to Rose for confirmation. "Got a bit distracted," he added, turning back to Pete in time to see his eyebrows raised. "Oh! No no no, not that way. Well… No. Rose," he squeaked, floundering, "help?"

She smiled at the Doctor for a moment before taking pity on him. She turned back to her father and assumed a more serious expression.

"We got distracted by finding out that Gallifrey, his home planet, doesn't seem to have been destroyed in our other universe like we thought," she said. "Instead, it's been moved to this one, to this parallel."

"So there's more of you, then?" asked Pete, looking at the Doctor.

"No. Well, yes, sort of," answered the Doctor. "Me, specifically, I'm unique. Need to find out how unique, actually. Well, again, sort of; you can't actually have degrees of unique since that means one-of-a-kind, and…" He seemed to catch himself and cleared his throat. "Right. There are others of my originating species, yes. And yes, they may pose a threat, and yes, I'm doing everything I can to avoid it, but no, there's nothing you can do if Rose and I fail."

"Well, it isn't the first time I've needed to trust the world's safety to the two of you," said Pete, looking resigned. "Isn't even the second time. Getting to be a regular thing at this point, may as well get used to it."

"We need access to medical before we can do what we need to," said Rose. "Any way you can pull some strings and get him in there without the ID?"

Pete shook his head. "Not unless that hour's gonna make the difference. Already pulled as many strings as I could. Any more and I might catch unwanted notice and not be able to get even the ID. I just need a name."

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other.

"There's always Smith," said the Doctor. "I mean, it's not an original name, for certain, but like you said, won't have to use it often, only when we need to blend in, and, well, it does do a good job of that."

"It's true," responded Rose. "I can live with 'Smith.'"

The Doctor beamed at her, and Pete was fairly certain he was missing out on a piece of the exchange.

"Okay, then," said the Doctor, turning back to Pete, "I'm 'Jason no-middle-name Smith.'"

"Jason NMN Smith," repeated Pete as he entered it into his electronic form. "There. Wasn't so hard now, was it? Anything else I can do for you today?"

"That'll be all, Dad, thanks," said Rose.

O~O~O~O~O~O

After saying their temporary goodbyes to Pete, Rose and the Doctor acquired lunch at the low-security cafe on Torchwood's ground floor to pass the time before they could retrieve the Doctor's IDs. Paperwork and, more importantly, KID card in hand, Rose and the Doctor made their way to medical.

The Doctor held his KID card, frowning.

"Why didn't it turn purple when you touched it?" he asked.

"Hasn't been encoded yet," stated Rose. "They'll do it for you at medical. If it doesn't turn purple, security doesn't accept it anywhere but at medical, but you have to have a KID card to get into medical, encoded or not."

The entered the medically focused area of the facility, handing over both IDs momentarily to get through the door. This time, the Doctor noticed that the guard had a small device that was used to verify the authenticity of Rose's purple KID card.

Finally where he needed to be, he let Rose take the cards back as he started examining the equipment available. Rose spoke quietly to a woman who looked both in charge and upset at his intrusion, then joined the Doctor.

"This way, Doctor," she told him. "There's a private lab we can use instead of the emergency medical area."

On their way, they stopped at a manned stall to encode the Doctor's card, showing various forms of newly-acquired identification before the Doctor was able to place card and finger in the applicable slots in the stall. A moment of light later, his card was activated.

"Didn't much care for that," the Doctor sniffed as they continued to where they'd been directed. "I've had some rather invasive experiences with having my genetic material sampled by a machine. I'll tell you about that later," he added at her inquisitive look.

They spent nearly three hours in the private room as the Doctor conducted various tests and configured the device that Rose decided to call a TLL rather than the mouthful that was 'Time Lord Locator.'" Though she'd picked up on bits and pieces here and there, when the Doctor was finally finished, she gestured for him to sit down next to her in the waiting-room style chairs.

"So, what's the verdict?" she asked him. "How human are you?"

"Hmm," he said as he sat. "Well, that depends on how you calculate the percentages. My brain, that's entirely Time Lord, and one could make an argument for that being half of me, I suppose, since I could still do quite a lot with just a brain. Sort of. Anyway, physically, the rest of my body is more human than not. In fact, other than an increased blood supply to keep my brain from starving, my body is almost entirely human. If I didn't have a head injury or anything, I could probably go to a normal hospital and pass through any tests without arousing suspicions of my being an extraterrestrial in disguise."

He sighed, and Rose put a comforting hand on his knee, which he immediately covered with a hand of his own.

"Anything that a superior brain can enhance, though, mine does," he continued. "My senses are stronger since my mind can interpret the signals more clearly. I have more sensitivity to touch, more ability to sense pleasure or pain. Fortunately, to offset that, I did retain some of my ability to tamp down on some of my physical and chemical responses. Not all of it, of course, since there's no filter for it until it reaches my mind, and I'm not as used to human hormones, which are a bit different from Time Lord ones, as you might expect."

"I know it'll be a change for you, but that all sounds okay, yeah?" said Rose after a brief pause. "I mean, you seem healthy and like you'll get along just fine on the slow path for now and still be fine after we get the TARDIS running, too. It'll just take some adjusting. Speaking of Time Lords and humans together, sort of," she said, looking at her watch, "we should probably find out if there's any other Time Lords nearby or whether we need to arrange for travel. Did you finish calibrating the TLL?"

"Yup," said the Doctor, reaching into a pocket to retrieve the device, then grabbing the sonic screwdriver from a different pocket. He activated the sonic at the locating device and exclaimed, "We're in luck! There's a being with a Time Lord genetic profile five point two miles in that direction."

He pointed toward an eastern wall, and Rose pulled out her mobile to bring up Torchwood's navigation app.

"Five point two miles…" she said to herself as she entered directions into the mapping system. "Well, that's… okay then."

"What is it?" asked the Doctor. "Is there nothing there? Is it somewhere we can't get into?"

"No," responded Rose, "it's a public place, which means we might want to go now instead of waiting until they go somewhere we can't get into as easily or go back to their TARDIS, yeah?"

"Great idea," said the Doctor, putting away both sonic and locator. "Why do you still look like you're unsure of something? I can check the distance and direction again."

"No, it's fine," she told him. "There's a building that distance away in the direction you pointed. I'm just confused. What would a Time Lord be doing in a karaoke bar?"


	4. Lords of Time

Karaoke bars were exceedingly popular in Pete's World. It helped that the technology for it allowed everybody to sing well. There was a heads-up display that projected from a small earpiece to show singers the lyrics. The earpiece also served as the microphone, and optional dance instructions could be included on the display. Additionally, an advanced version of auto-tune was available upon request.

Rose and the Doctor currently stood outside of The Rising Star!, a karaoke bar with a particularly good reputation for attracting some of the most talented singers, including a few who had high-profile recording contracts. The Rising Star! rarely had to use its auto-tune feature. In fact, it was rumored that they'd disabled that feature entirely.

The Doctor pulled out his Time Lord Locator and activated it. This time, in addition to the readout of distance and direction, there was a brief but distinct, "Ding!" The Doctor smiled, looking quite pleased with himself, before he returned the device to his pocket. Rose raised an eyebrow at him and waited for an explanation.

"That means we're in the right place! The audio interface only activates when a subject who matches its programmed search is within its minimum detection radius," he told her. "Then it goes 'ding'!"

The Doctor beamed at Rose, and she returned his smile before asking him to clarify.

"So that means we won't be able to tell who it is in there, yeah?" she asked.

"Yeah. Or, no. How do I answer that?" He pulled on an ear briefly. "The locator can't narrow it down any further than this, but there is definitely a being of Gallifreyan origin in that building right now. I could probably narrow it down further pretty easily by lowering my shield, but that will be a last resort, especially since it won't help if he or she has his or her shield raised. Not that there'd be any reason to," he said as he gave a sideways shrug, "since there aren't really enough telepaths on Earth to worry about that sort of thing here. Well, unless you want to escape the notice of the rest of the Time Lords."

"That might work out better for us, actually," said Rose, "if the Time Lord doesn't want to have the attention of others. It gives us a better chance of them not reporting you."

"That's a good point," conceded the Doctor, "though it might be harder to get information, in that case."

"True," said Rose. "Ready to go in, then?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," replied the Doctor, sighing at the brightly decorated door and the numerous scientifically-inaccurate representations of celestial stars.

Immediately as they walked through the door and into the fairly crowded building, the Doctor caught sight of a drink.

"Oh, banana martini!" he said, moving toward the roaming tray of fruit-flavored vodka and acquiring a beverage from the person who carried it.

Rose found a small table that was empty and sat down, the Doctor joining her immediately afterward with his drink. He took a large gulp and sighed contentedly while Rose made a face.

"Taste buds didn't change, then?" she asked.

"Nope!" replied the Doctor cheerfully, taking a moment to look around.

"How will we know who we're looking for?" questioned Rose.

"Probably someone on the sidelines, observing," said the Doctor, studying the people on the edges of the room. "Probably alone. Traveling as much as I did, keeping company with humans, well, as I've told you, I'm a bit of a rebel. Place like this? Time Lord will definitely stay out of the spotlight."

A new singer took the stage, and since the seats at each table were all located on the side that granted a view of the stage, three to a small table or six to a large, both Rose and the Doctor were able to see the woman preparing to sing. The curvy, blue-eyed brunette took a breath as the background music for a song by The Killers started.

_"I did my best to notice, when the call came down the line…"_

"She's good," commented Rose as she tried to spot anyone in the crowd who might be standing out by way of keeping to themselves.

_"I was brought but I was kind…"_

"Unexpected vocal qualities for her lung shape and capacity," said the Doctor, frowning at the woman and her clear, childlike voice.

"Just enjoy it, Doctor," said Rose, pausing in her search to watch the singer instead.

_"Are we human…"_

Rose adjusted slightly in her seat as she noticed the singer fixate on their table. The Doctor hadn't yet noticed, eyes elsewhere as he sipped his drink.

"Doctor," she said.

"Yes, Rose?" he replied, still scanning the room.

"First, that drink's almost gone already," she said. "Might want to slow down. Don't know how alcohol affects your new body yet."

"Right," said the Doctor, pushing his drink away slightly, regretfully. "Forgot. Well, didn't forget, really, it's just that I didn't apply it to this particular… Anyway, you said 'first,' so is there a 'second'?"

Rose took her eyes fully off the singer to look at the Doctor a moment, covering her hand with his. He flipped his hand over to take hers, accepting her comfort at having reminded him again of his new limitations.

_"My sign is vital, my hands are cold…"_

"Second, the singer is watching us," she said, turning back to look, only to find that the woman's attention had moved elsewhere. Though it would be easy enough to rule out the previous stare as having been in Rose's imagination, she had enough confidence in her gut instincts not to dismiss the interest she'd seen.

_"Are we human…"_

The woman returned her focus to their table and kept it there for the next verse.

_"Will your system be alright, when you dream of home tonight? There's no message we're receiving. Let me know, is your heart still beating?"_

The brunette cocked an eyebrow at the Doctor before breaking her stare and moving her gaze over the crowd.

"Hmm," said the Doctor. "I still don't think a Time Lord, or Lady, would want to be in the spotlight like that, but we'll keep an eye on her. Something's definitely odd here."

"Maybe it's time to try dropping your shields a mo'?" suggested Rose. "It seemed pretty intentional."

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but the singer finished her song, and there was no use in trying to talk over the deafening applause.

As the bar quieted down and the Doctor went to speak again, the announcer's voice came over the speaker.

"Next up, we have Rose Tyler. Let's give a round of applause for the Vitex heiress!"

Rose looked at the stage and then back to the Doctor, who looked sheepish.

"Well, the price of the banana martini may have been to give the name of the best singer in the group, and I've heard you sing in the shower, and you're definitely the best singer in our group, and I thought we would be gone before your name was actually called." He paused, rubbing his neck. "I may have underestimated your reputation as your father's daughter."

Rose stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes and giving the Doctor a quick kiss.

"I'm only doing this because I'll have a better view from on the stage," she told him. "Keep an eye on her," she added, nodding toward the brunette who was getting a drink.

Rose made her way to the stage, applause mixed with curious whispers as she requested a song.

The music started, and when vocals were added, the Doctor found it impossible to keep his attention on another woman as Rose Tyler sang Faith Hill's "All I Ever Wanted."

_"Every single tragedy was leading up to, Someone that loves me like you…"_

The Doctor gulped, downing the remaining portion of his drink as he tried to keep himself from either dragging her off the stage or snogging her on it.

_"All I ever wanted, All I ever needed, Was you."_

Rose kept her eyes locked on the Doctor's as she sang.

_"...like it's written in the stars. Loneliness was killing me enough...It took a little pain, To find what I believe in. All I ever needed was you."_

As Rose finished singing, a clear voice spoke from next to the Doctor.

"Huh. I always thought everything else fading away but your lover was just one of those silly human sayings."

He jumped in his seat and turned quickly to face the singer who'd gone before Rose and was now sitting in a previously empty seat beside him.

The woman laughed, a sound as clear as the rest of what she said.

"Don't worry, darling. You're not my type," she told him, eyeing the approaching Rose as if to illustrate her point.

Rose arrived back at the table, quickly assessing the situation, and, seeing no threat of immediate physical harm, she reclaimed her seat on the other side of the Doctor. Pasting on a perfunctory smile, she reached across the Doctor and held out a hand to the newcomer.

"Hello," said Rose, her voice friendly, "I'm Rose, and this is Jason. What's your name?"

The stranger took Rose's hand and shook it, letting go at the Doctor's low, involuntary growl. However, she didn't look frightened at all as she smirked at him.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, love," she told him before looking back at Rose. "I'm Seraphina, but you can call me Sera if you'd like."

"Lovely to meet you, Sera," started the Doctor. "Now, if you can tell me…"

"I said _she_ could call me that," interrupted Seraphina with a sniff as her blue eyes flashed. She turned away from them, flagging down a server for a drink, and Rose took the opportunity to speak to the Doctor in a low voice.

"Is this who we're looking for?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," the Doctor responded in kind. "She's got two hearts. I can hear them."

"And I can hear you, cupcake," chimed Seraphina as she turned back to the table, bright pink drink in hand. "Not just out loud, either, though I'm not picking up much otherwise. How long has it been since you've had to shield from someone competent, anyway? I can tell your shields are up and can't see anything clearly, but if you thought you were hiding, sugar, you're quite mistaken."

Rose tensed and reached automatically toward a stun weapon she hadn't thought to bring, caught up in being reunited with her Doctor.

Seraphina arched one perfectly plucked brow and told Rose, "I'm not a threat to you, not in a place like this. You think I could get away with anything?" She gestured around the room. "It's why I like places like this. People bare their souls on stage and don't even consider petty things like bar fights."

Rose took a deep breath, reminding herself they came here to meet this woman. Though having her guard up was good, there was no need to be actively defensive when there hadn't been a threat.

"So, you know who I am, then?" asked the Doctor.

"Not really," replied Seraphina, looking at him curiously. "I know you've got a Time Lord mind, of course, and you have been alone for quite some time if the state of your mental shield is any indication. But I'm baffled to hear only one heart functioning, and the combination of hormones emitting from your body smells distinctly human. What are you, honey?"

"Unique," the Doctor answered firmly. "What about you? This hasn't exactly been typical Time Lord behavior."

Seraphina leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her drink.

"Never did care much for what's typical, traditional, or expected," she said. "I spend most of my time on Gallifrey because my daughter prefers it there and I adore her, but I have to get away from that planet sometimes. When I do, I like to pick somewhere I can have fun, play, you know? I like to let my guard down and enjoy myself. Not that there are as many options as there were before the shift," she added.

"The shift?" asked Rose.

Seraphina watched Rose a moment, assessing, before responding.

"About three years back, Gallifreyan linear time, of course," she clarified, "the planet shifted. We were surrounded by Daleks," she paused, looking for recognition on Rose's face before continuing. "Arcadia had fallen, we were being invaded, and then, suddenly, we had changed parallels entirely. The Daleks surrounding the planet were gone. The ones still on the planet continued to wreak havoc, killing and destroying until they were finally eliminated. Gallifrey is still recovering. In the meantime, though, we haven't been able to get back to the Prime Universe to figure out what happened. The walls between the universes are closed, and we can't find a way through. A sort of temporary government has been formed since the High Council hasn't come out of its time-locked gathering, and it's the first time I've been grateful that most Time Lords are so boring. There'd be chaos, otherwise. So," she said, turning slightly to face the Doctor again, "what about you, pumpkin? What did you think of all this? Any theories as to the shift? That's a popular party theme now, you know, shift-theory discussions."

The Doctor shook his head slowly.

"No theories at all, honestly," he said, turning toward Rose, who shrugged.

"So tell me, Jason," said Seraphina, more insistently this time, "how does a Time Lord acquire a human body and a human name? Or is it just an alias?"

The Doctor looked at Rose a moment, and the two came to a silent agreement.

"I'm a human-Time Lord biological metacrisis," the Doctor said, looking back at Seraphina. "There was an incident involving a bio-matching receptacle during an aborted regeneration, and then there was me."

Seraphina raised an eyebrow at the abbreviated explanation.

"And were you on Gallifrey when we shifted? I suspect you might have been a bit obvious on planet," she told him.

"Right. I…" He trailed off a moment, thinking. "I wasn't on Gallifrey when it shifted, though I was at the Fall of Arcadia. I went to Earth, stayed there periodically after searching for any other Time Lords after the planet was… gone. After the metacrisis event, I brought myself here before the walls between the universes closed. Wanted to give myself some distance."

Seraphina looked back and forth between Rose and the Doctor.

"And how does Rose fit into this?" she asked. "Fully human, best I can tell, but your body language screams intimacy."

The Doctor stiffened, and Rose wondered at his reluctance for Seraphina to be aware of their relationship.

"You can't report this," the Doctor said. "I couldn't care less what Gallifreyan society thinks of my relationship with a human, frankly, but I don't care to have a bounty placed on my head if they decide it is in some way a threat to them."

"Oh," said Seraphina lightly, "I don't think they'll really care about your relationship, especially since you're already tainted, physically. However, I don't plan to tell them. It isn't relevant. What is relevant, though, is why you were looking for me if you don't want to be noticed."

"Ah," said the Doctor, pulling on his ear until Rose placed a reassuring hand on his leg, "well, it's not safe to go into detail, but I have reason to believe the High Council may be a threat to more than just me. I need to investigate further, need to stop it if I can. It was worth the risk."

He squeezed Rose's hand tightly while they waited for Seraphina's response.

"Hmm," she said, searching their eyes. "I know of a place I can land my TARDIS that will allow you to get near the High Council's chambers undetected. Of course, if you're caught, I will deny ever having seen you before, and I am willing to wipe my mind if I suspect the memories will be accessed to verify. I'll not risk my ability to see my family."

"Fair enough," said the Doctor. "You get us there undetected, and I'll take it from there."

"I'll need to work with you on your shielding before we go or you'll be caught immediately," Seraphina told him firmly. "Do you trust me enough for that?"

"I don't suppose I have much choice," the Doctor answered, sounding resigned.

"Let's head back to my TARDIS then, and we'll get started," said Seraphina, finishing off her drink. "This place is lovely, but it's not the best place to concentrate."

Seraphina got up and headed toward the door, looking back once to make sure the Doctor and Rose were following.

When they got outside, Seraphina gestured.

"This way," she said, leading them down the busy street and onto a less-trafficked one.

"Wait just a second," said Rose to Seraphina after they'd gone just a little ways down the new street. She turned to the Doctor and told him, "I'm gonna call Pete, let him know what's going on. I think we should get some weapons, you know, just in case? Non-lethal, of course, but we're going to a planet that might not let us leave if we're caught."

"Of course," the Doctor agreed, though his face reflected his distaste for the idea of even non-lethal weapons. Rose studied him, so grateful he was here with her, as he turned back to Seraphina. "We need just… oh," he finished, his face falling into the expressionless mask that signaled his anger.

Rose turned to face the other woman, quickly taking in both her ready stance and the small, deadly-looking weapon she held comfortably in her left hand.

"I'm sorry," she said, almost regretfully, "but I'm not letting you get any weapons or letting you leave my sight. Rose, you're staying here. Doctor," she said pointedly, and Rose sucked in a breath, sure they'd not used his name around her, "you're coming with me."


	5. I Can't Get Enough

_Rose turned to face the other woman, quickly taking in both her ready stance and the small, deadly-looking weapon she held comfortably in her left hand._

_"I'm sorry," she said, almost regretfully, "but I'm not letting you get any weapons or letting you leave my sight. Rose, you're staying here. Doctor," she said pointedly, and Rose sucked in a breath, sure they'd not used his name around her, "you're coming with me."_

As Seraphina watched the Doctor to be sure he would cooperate while her weapon was aimed at Rose, Rose took a small step away from the Doctor, toward Sera's left. She took a steadying breath as the Doctor spoke.

"You're not taking me anywhere without my explicit consent," he said, anger radiating from him despite his neutral expression.

Seraphina smirked and retorted, "What do you think you're going to do about it, Doctor?"

Rose, sure that the other woman's attention was primarily on the Doctor, lunged forward, grabbing Seraphina's left hand and forcing it downward firmly, using her fisted free hand to punch Seraphina in the face, hard.

Instinctively, Seraphina loosened her grip slightly as her body told her to protect her face, and Rose yanked the weapon away, taking a step backward and turning it on the woman who'd tried to separate her from the Doctor.

"You alright, Doctor?" said Rose calmly, not taking her eyes off Seraphina.

He cleared his throat.

"Yup," he squeaked, and Rose smiled despite herself, knowing he was surprised to see her expertise firsthand.

"Disarming is a bit quicker than trying to talk people out of shooting me, I've found," Rose commented while Seraphina put her hand on her hips and stomped a foot, looking remarkably like a small child on the verge of a tantrum.

"That wasn't very kind," said Seraphina. "I'm going to bruise, and bruises do _not_ match my complexion."

Rose raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.

"You just tried to kidnap my… You tried to kidnap someone I care about and had a weapon aimed at me, and you're upset that I hurt your complexion?" asked Rose, skeptically.

"Well, I'm not too upset," said Seraphina, and Rose tensed as she heard a sound like gas hissing out of a small hole.

Rose tried to steady the weapon as she immediately started swaying. When she realized her hearing was muffled and her vision had started to blur, she lowered the weapon to her side, reluctant to accidentally discharge it and harm an innocent passerby, though she'd seen nobody since the altercation started.

Rose, feeling weak, fell to her knees and then to the ground, and her last glimpse before losing consciousness was of the Doctor. He was similarly sprawled on the ground, an arm stretched out toward her. She tried to reach a hand back toward him, and then everything went black.

O~O~O~O~O~O

The Doctor was the first to regain consciousness, more slowly than he was accustomed to. Even while his eyes were still closed, he was aware that he was securely bound to a chair. After a moment, he cautiously opened his eyes, looking around with slow movements as his body tried to adjust to his mind's already-awakened state.

He appeared to be in a console room, presumably in Seraphina's TARDIS. It was distinctly more feminine than his own, curvier, with larger, more sporadically-placed roundels instead of the even and organized patterns in the Doctor's ship. As he could see at least one other seat, this TARDIS also appeared more used to visitors than he was used to seeing.

"I hope you slept well, honeybun," he heard as Seraphina came into sight from the other side of the console. He could make out what looked like a glimpse of Rose's jacket opposite him, but he couldn't see clearly past the console. He suspected, though, there was another chair to which Rose was bound.

"So the pet names weren't part of your charade, then?" he asked, watching her as she adjusted levers and dials on the console.

"No, that's just something you bring out in me, sugarplum," she responded. "Might be the hair," she added with a quick glance at him.

"Where's Rose?" he asked, fairly certain she was in the room but wanting to gauge Seraphina's willingness to communicate.

"She's right here," said Seraphina, nodding her head toward the bit of jacket the Doctor had seen. "She's fine. It was a harmless chemical designed to render humans temporarily unconscious without any lasting side effects. Apparently, you're human enough that it worked on you, too. That was a pleasant bonus. I was just going to threaten her to ensure your cooperation, but this made it easier."

The Doctor bit back the growl that tried to escape at Seraphina's mention of threatening Rose.

"Then why'd you take Rose instead of leaving her behind?" he asked.

Seraphina shrugged.

"She impressed me, being willing to fight like that, to risk her life to avoid being separated from you," she responded.

Rose groaned as she regained consciousness, catching the Doctor say, "Yeah, she does have a tendency to do that," in a resigned voice as her hearing returned.

"Rose?" he called to her, concern in his voice, as he heard her waking. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she managed, blinking repeatedly and flexing the hand she'd used to punch Seraphina, making an assessment of herself as she'd been taught and finding herself unharmed. She was restrained firmly but not uncomfortably.

As she tried to focus her eyes, Seraphina's face came into view, clear blue eyes looking at her appraisingly.

"You throw a good punch," the woman told Rose, leaning back against the center console and crossing her arms over her chest.

"You should feel her mother's slap," commented the Doctor from the other side of the room. "It's impressive, and possibly genetic. I intend not to find out."

Seraphina ignored the Doctor, keeping her focus on Rose, who was getting more alert as the chemicals wore off.

"I could use someone like you in my line of work," said Seraphina, raising an eyebrow. "Have any interest in becoming a bounty hunter?"

Rose, still not fully awake and herself, latched on to the "hunter" part of the statement, and her face must have reflected that fact; Seraphina took in her expression and rolled her eyes.

"I don't kill people," she told Rose. "I just retrieve them for whomever is paying me."

"And who is paying you for the Doctor?" asked Rose, feeling the last of the drug leave her system as she met Seraphina's stare unflinchingly.

"Yeah," he chimed in, voice light. "And how much am I worth, anyway?"

Seraphina returned to her controls, fiddling in a way that briefly reminded Rose of the Doctor.

"I'm currently working for the provisional government that has been established on Gallifrey," said Seraphina. "About a month after they detected your presence, Doctor, they asked me to come back to this point in time and... persuade you to come see them, by whatever means necessary."

"Why do they want him?" asked Rose.

"It's not my job to know," replied Seraphina, tensing slightly.

"Is it because I'm part human?" asked the Doctor.

"I doubt it," replied Seraphina with a snort. "They didn't even realize that you were until I checked in while you were unconscious. Wish I'd known since I might have been able to get something for that information."

"Why are you doing this?" asked Rose. "Why are you taking people away from their homes without even knowing why?"

"It's my job," answered Seraphina tightly. "I'm not supposed to ask questions."

"And does your daughter know that you do this?" asked Rose. "What does she think about it? Or did you just make her up when you were trying to get us to trust you?"

Seraphina stopped moving, still facing the console.

"She knows I've been working for Almerin and the provisional government he is nominally in charge of," said Seraphina quietly. "She's proud that I help stabilize our society. I don't really go into the details regarding how I go about that."

"And how do you think she would feel about it if you did?" asked the Doctor in a low, soft voice.

Seraphina sighed.

"It doesn't matter what she'd think," she said. "I'm doing this to protect her." She paused a moment, considering, and Rose and the Doctor stayed quiet, Rose testing her bonds again as she waited for the woman to speak. "They're blackmailing me, Almerin and the others are. Such a crude term, a crude thing for an elevated race to do. Lucia, my daughter, she fits in on Gallifrey in a way I never did. She thrives on the organization, the rules, the structure. If I don't continue my work, she will be exiled from the planet."

She looked up, leaning to the side to see the Doctor.

"You know what that's like," she continued. "It isn't easy even for those of us who don't fit in as well, but for someone who does, someone who is the epitome of well-behaved Time Lord? I can't do that to her."

"Can you just… tell people you're being blackmailed?" asked Rose.

Seraphina shook her head.

"Then she has a mother who was refusing to assist the government," she said. "The effects would be nearly as devastating. Besides, with the High Council locked away since before the shift, anything that could be seen as a threat to the provisional leadership could plunge Gallifrey back into chaos, as it was immediately after the shift."

"Can you think of any reason they wanted you to get _me_?" asked the Doctor.

"I don't have to think of a reason," said Seraphina. "I spy on them regularly in an attempt to gather some information I can buy my way out with. In order to get me out, the information needs to be big, and I need to be able to prove it, or else they'll just turn it back on me, make me look crazy or a traitor. In the meantime, because I do listen, I already know why they want you, even though I wasn't officially told."

Seraphina moved away from the console and sat in the jumpseat, where she could easily see both of her bound captives.

"Apparently, you single-handedly caused the shift," she said, looking toward the Doctor, a skeptical look on her face.

"What?" asked the Doctor, baffled.

Seraphina nodded.

"All thirteen regenerations, evenly spaced around the planet, each in their own TARDIS, and the Doctor was able to shift the entire world," said Seraphina.

"What?" said the Doctor again, even more confused. "I didn't… I have no memories of doing this. Thirteen? That's not… Creating me, that used a regeneration. Well, not the creation so much as the diversion of energy. Anyway, if the walls are sealed, even with all of Gallifrey having tried to cross them, then it's impossible that I'll get back to do it in my future, and I certainly didn't do it before getting brought to this universe. So how were there thirteen of me?"

Seraphina shrugged again.

"That's all I know," she said.

"Sera," ventured Rose, "the Doctor needs to know what the High Council is doing. Do you know anything about that?"

"No," responded Seraphina. "Nobody knows what is going on with the High Council. There have been talks of attempting to breach the time lock, but, well, you know how quickly the government makes any big decisions. They've been actively looking for you for years, Doctor, and still took a month to send their handy, bounty-hunter servant after they sensed you."

"It's very important that I find out what is going on," said the Doctor seriously. "Before… before the shift, I… I was willing to let Gallifrey... the High Council was going to end existence. They were going to let time collapse, let physical forms cease to exist so that we could continue as consciousness alone."

Seraphina arched an eyebrow.

"That doesn't sound like a fun way to live. And you're certain of this?" she asked.

"I am," he replied firmly. "There's no other way that I'd have done it, no way I would have even considered taking action unless I were absolutely certain. I need to find out whether anything has changed, and we need to stop them if that's what they're still planning to do."

"And what about me? What about my daughter? What if you're wrong, and I get caught helping you?" asked Seraphina, steepling her fingers in front of her face, touching them to her face.

"Blackmail," said the Doctor. "We use me. You said the public has no idea that a single Time Lord caused the shift, correct?"

"That's right," said Seraphina, standing and moving toward Rose. "I have reason to believe the current leaders have leverage against anyone who might know outside of Almerin's group. It's why I wasn't able to use that against them, not that I tried as hard as I could have since I didn't think I could prove something that couldn't possibly be true. How could one person shift a planet?" She deactivated Rose's restraints as she continued talking. "If they believe it, though, and we can use you to threaten showing the truth to the public, this might get me out of Almerin's clutches. Just because I'm uncommonly good at finding and apprehending people doesn't mean I should have to do it against my will, so having something to turn back on him sounds like an excellent plan."

She moved over to the Doctor, Rose right behind her, and released his bonds. The Doctor stood, and he and Rose immediately embraced.

Seraphina chuckled.

"You weren't even apart for all that long--sorry about that, by the way--and you're hugging like you've been apart for years," she said from behind the seat.

"We have, until yesterday," said Rose, looking at Seraphina over the Doctor's shoulder and refusing to let him go for another long moment.

A flash of guilt washed over Seraphina's face before it was replaced with a bright smile.

"Well, then I'm glad I decided to bring you along after all," she said, moving back to the center of the room as Rose and the Doctor pulled back, linking hands while they moved to join her at the console. "Mind giving me a hand, Doctor? I'm landing us in Control Room C. It's been abandoned for years, and we're unlikely to be noticed. I'll leave first, just in case, since I won't be too out of place if there are people about, and I'll let you know whether it's safe."

The Doctor pitched in, helping land the TARDIS, directing Rose on how to help as well. When they came to a stop, he turned to Seraphina.

"How do I know I can trust that you're not walking me into a trap?" he asked.

"Didn't need to," she said simply. "I had you restrained, with no way out, and I had leverage, too, if anything went wrong," she added, gesturing toward Rose. "If I wanted to turn you over for an ambush, poppet, I could have done it without all the yammering on."

"Can't you show him you're telling the truth, let him see it or something?" asked Rose, and the Doctor was already shaking his head before Seraphina responded.

"Humans, when their minds are searched by a telepath, what they show is true," she explained, "but a trained telepath can use telepathy to show falsehoods as well as truths, just like people can lie speaking out loud. It's just another form of communication."

"She's right," the Doctor told Rose. His eyes flickered over to Seraphina before he returned his gaze to Rose. "What do you think? Do we trust her?"

Rose looked at Seraphina.

"I think we have to trust somebody," Rose said, "and I'm not getting the same feelings from her as I was earlier. I was stupid to ignore them when we left The Rising Star!, but now, I feel like she's being honest with us."

"Well, then," said the Doctor cheerfully, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels, "looks like we're working together now!"

"You and I will be working together, yes," said Seraphina. "Rose, I'm sorry, but you need to stay here. You won't blend in, don't know where to go, and will be a liability to us."

"She's right, Rose," said the Doctor as Rose opened her mouth to protest. "I mean, the part about us being more likely to get caught. I know you're fully capable of handling yourself if we do run into a situation, but it's better if we can avoid one in the first place."

"I've turned on the screens," interrupted Seraphina. "I'll wave if it's safe outside the control room doors, so be sure you're watching."

Seraphina stepped outside her TARDIS doors and shut them behind her.

"Takes some trust, leaving us alone in her ship," commented Rose.

"Yeah," agreed the Doctor as he made sure he could watch the monitors displaying the control room outside.

"Okay, Doctor, I'll stay here," said Rose, "but I want you to remember this. If we're on Earth and there's a dangerous situation that's safer if you let me go alone, you don't get to fight me on it, yeah?"

The Doctor's jaw tensed, but he nodded once in agreement.

On the screen, Seraphina waved, gesturing for the Doctor to join her. He looked at Rose.

"I want that blue suit back in one piece. You got that?" she told him as she ran a hand along his lapels, voice hitching slightly.

"Yes, sir," he replied, mouth twitching at the memory she was evoking.

He pulled her closer to give her a kiss, slow and lingering despite its brevity.

"I'll see you later," she said as he stepped away.

The Doctor opened the doors and turned back to face her for a moment.

"Not if I see you first," he said with a smile before he stepped through the doors and closed them behind him.


	6. Finding Answers

The Doctor closed the door of the TARDIS behind him and walked through Control Room C, stepping outside to join Seraphina in the hallway.

"Do you know what part of the building we're in?" Seraphina asked him quietly.

The Doctor looked around.

"Yeah," he replied. "We need to go that way," he told her, nodding his head to the right.

Seraphina raised an eyebrow, but she remained silent.

"You do that a lot, you know," commented the Doctor before starting to walk down the corridor, Seraphina following. "The eyebrow thing, I mean. There's actually a species of humanoids on Girflaxis 7 who really do run the risk of getting their faces stuck in particular expressions if they repeat them too frequently. Honestly, it's a great place to visit because you can tell a lot about a person just by what is stuck where. Erm, and by that I mean…"

"You do that a lot," interrupted Seraphina. "Ramble, I mean. Do you always ramble when you're on a covert mission, sugarlips?"

"Well, maybe," said the Doctor, rubbing his neck. "I suppose facial expressions are more conducive to sneaking than my tendency to ramble is. Did you know…" He stopped himself and cleared his throat. "Right. Never mind."

"You do know the High Council's chambers are in the other direction, correct?" asked Seraphina.

"Yup!" said the Doctor. "But the intercom system, the incoming end of things, that's the way we're going."

Seraphina frowned, piecing together his plan in her mind.

"Do you mean to activate the receiving end so you can listen in? I've done that to listen to Almerin's discussions, but I didn't think it would work through the time lock," she said. "Nobody else appears to have even figured out that the intercoms can be activated from the receiving end. Most Time Lords seem to assume the lower castes wouldn't consider overstepping their boundaries like that. Then again, I've seen no evidence that anybody else has tried, so I suppose they're right."

"It's easy to feel invincible when you wield enough power," he said.

Before he could continue, he felt Seraphina grab his arm and pull him into what appeared to be a closet, shutting the door after they were in the tiny area. He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, but she put a finger to her lips. She frowned again and reached a hand to his temple.

_I need to strengthen your shield. Now. Someone's getting close._

The Doctor nodded, and he focused on firming up his shield as she did the same. After a moment, she pulled back, seemingly satisfied. He "listened" for other presences nearby and felt another Time Lord draw closer to the closet and then move past it without pausing. When the Time Lord was out of the immediate area again, Seraphina opened the door, and she and the Doctor continued down the hall.

The Doctor pulled on an ear, uncomfortable.

"Didn't realize I was quite so out of practice with all that," he apologized. "Didn't even notice someone else was there, and I can feel the difference in my shield now. Seems I was keeping myself inside my head better than I was keeping others out."

Seraphina nodded, again choosing silence as they walked. The Doctor sighed and followed her example.

After another minute of walking through the large building, they were nearing the room that should allow the Doctor to access the servants' end of the intercom system.

"So what's the plan once we get there, Bambi?" asked Seraphin, speaking quietly.

"We'll need to distract anyone who is in there," said the Doctor, continuing to ignore the pet names she insisted on using, "and make sure nobody else shows up."

Seraphina nodded.

"I know the person whose work shift it is," she said.

"That's convenient," commented the Doctor before continuing his explanation. "If you've done it before, you know the basics of activating the connection from the receiving end even though it isn't meant to work that way. Governmental types do seem to get cranky about interruptions, don't they? Anyway, I won't explain what you already know. Basically, in addition to the normal methods, I'll need to account for the connection's traveling through the time lock. Since the connection was present before the time lock was created, it should still function. We wouldn't be able to create a new one, no, but if we account for the distortion of the timeline as it passes through the lock, I should be able to stimulate the connection just enough to get a temporary, one-way audio link from the High Council's chambers."

Seraphina nodded her understanding once more.

"How does that work, the time distortion?" she asked. "When will you be hearing them?"

"I have no idea," responded the Doctor immediately. At her again-raised eyebrow, he explained further. "I have an approximately equal chance of accessing the audio that's originating from any point that has ever occurred within the time lock. A time lock functions a bit like a broken watch. From the outside, nothing seems to change, nothing moves on its own, time is frozen. Meanwhile, internally, the clock mechanism is able to potentially display any or all times equally. When I access the time lock, the time will be set, so to speak, but it is unlikely to match the movement of time as I am experiencing it from the outside. Instead, it will reflect one of an infinite number of times that are simultaneously available within the time lock."

Seraphina blinked. "I did well in most of my studies, but time theory was never a strong point. Mind trying that one again?"

The Doctor rubbed his neck. "Yes, well… I can't think of another way to explain it, so… wibbly wobbly, timey wimey?" he tried, looking at Seraphina hopefully as if to see whether that had helped.

"Nope, not any better," said Seraphina. "There it is," she added, nodding at a door they were approaching. "You stay over here," she said as she gestured toward an alcove that would allow him to stay out of sight as long as a person exiting the room didn't look too closely.

The Doctor complied, listening as Seraphina knocked twice and opened then closed the door.

He sighed. He and Seraphina seemed to work fine together, but he did wish it had been a feasible option to keep Rose with him. Not only did he not care to be separated from her, but he appreciated her input and her insight into people and situations. He had to admit to himself, though, he was quite happy that she was safe in the TARDIS, even if it wasn't _his_ TARDIS.

He heard the door open and shut again, two female voices chatting companionably as they moved down the hallway and away from where the Doctor was staying out of sight. He waited until he both heard and felt them get farther away. He moved quickly into the room and closed the door as he looked around.

There were hard chairs placed around a functional table in the center of the room. To his right was a small kitchen area, complete with stove, mini-fridge, and about two feet of counter space. Along the other wall, two cots were available for overnight shifts, overnight being relative to the Gallifreyan sleep cycle, in this case, not to the suns' locations.

Along the back wall were numerous intercoms, each able to receive requests from various meeting halls and high-ranking officials' rooms. He walked to this wall and quickly located the correct intercom using the organized labeling system, took out his sonic screwdriver, and went to work.

He stimulated the connections he needed, programming in the alterations, bridging the gaps in the circuitry as it crossed through the time lock. His intense concentration was broken as the door to the room opened, startling him and causing him to drop his sonic screwdriver.

He turned quickly and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Seraphina watching him.

"Didn't mean to startle you," she said, though she didn't sound particularly sincere. "I got Rhia successfully sidetracked. She should be a while before she returns. Sent her to the wrong place to get a message to Lucia for me. I rather thought you'd be a bit more observant after the last time."

"This process is delicate and requires complete focus," he responded as he retrieved his tool from the ground, happy to see it appeared unharmed.

Seraphina smirked and nodded.

"I'll stand outside the door so I can keep watch for you," she said.

"That sounds brilliant," he said, already distracted as he turned back to the intercoms, not seeing her roll her eyes at him before she shut the door once more.

He activated the sonic screwdriver again, manipulating the wires until he heard static.

"Almost there," he said to himself, touching his tongue to his top teeth as he tweaked one last connection.

"Aha!" he exclaimed in satisfaction as he heard voices emitting from the speaker. "Seraphina," he called, "come in here, quickly."

 _"The approach begins,"_ came a familiar voice over the intercom system as the door to the room opened.

"That's Rassilon," breathed Seraphina from behind him, the Doctor not having turned around after successfully activating the audio.

 _"We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart,"_ said Rassilon from within the time lock.

"You really did it," she said, "and you were right."

 _"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be,"_ they heard Rassilon proudly declare.

"So," said a male voice from behind the Doctor, causing him to jump, startled, severing the connection held open by his sonic as his hand moved, "the Lord President wants to end time itself."

The Doctor spun around, seeing an unknown Time Lord standing behind a tense, angry Seraphina.

"I was trying to get Almerin to leave when you shouted for me," she told the Doctor, clearly irritated.

"And you couldn't have let me know when he came in the room with you?" asked the Doctor.

"And missed hearing what Rassilon was saying?" she countered. "Besides, what good would it have done by then?"

"Fair points," he conceded before turning his attention more fully toward the man who'd stepped into Rassilon's role.

"Doctor," said Almerin, sneering slightly as he looked at the part-human who stood in front of him.

"Don't think we've met," the Doctor responded lightly.

"Each of us knows who the other is," said Almerin. "Why should we waste time exchanging pleasantries? My time, at least, is more valuable than that."

"Fair enough," said the Doctor, his tone still casual. "Tell me, then, what do you plan to do about what you just heard?"

"I plan," he responded, taking a step toward the Doctor, "to remove any possible interference."

The Doctor held his ground, resisting the temptation to brandish his sonic as if it were a weapon.

"Tell me, Doctor," Almerin said as he halted his approach a couple feet away from the Doctor, "since you're so very clever, how do you propose we stop Rassilon from destroying everything?"

The Doctor relaxed marginally but didn't let his guard down.

"Well, we'll need to figure that out, of course," he told him. "Don't know how much time we have since I don't know how long ago that audio originated, relatively."

"Of course we don't know when it originated," scoffed Almerin. "Can you duplicate it? Being able to listen in?"

"I can try," said the Doctor, "but why? You've heard enough to know what he wants to do."

"Yes," said Almerin, and the Doctor wondered whether the condescending tone was one the Time Lord used for everyone or a special tone for the Doctor alone. "However, as I am now in charge here on Gallifrey, any information I can get may prove to be advantageous."

"Tell me, then, why should I try to help you stay in charge?" said the Doctor, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets.

"Because the alternatives are worse," Almerin stated. "You just shared with us what will happen if we find a way to release the time lock or if the High Council decides to exit the time lock themselves. If Gallifrey were to have another unexpected change of leadership, or any change of leadership that wasn't a return to its beloved High Council, it would cause deep unrest. There has been change after change in lower leadership over the course of the Last Great Time War, with even more change after the High Council time locked itself into an emergency session and never came out. When we shifted, I stepped in when the other obvious candidates for taking charge met their ends after unfortunate Dalek encounters during the clean up. I kept the planet from plunging into chaos, upheld the rules and structures the Gallifreyans craved after the war, and I am leading the planet into a peaceful time, using our immobility as an asset rather than a limitation. The people need me," he finished smugly.

The Doctor watched him a moment, measuring, considering.

"We've still got things to discuss," said the Doctor, turning back to the intercom system. "The way you've been running things is unfitting for a Gallifreyan leader."

"You'd know," retorted Almerin. "You've seen more highs and lows within our society than anyone. You were appointed as President, briefly. Look at you now. You reek of human."

The intercom sparked, and the Doctor pulled back.

"The connection has been severed," he told Almerin. "And yes, my body may now be closer to human than to Gallifreyan, but my mind, that is still fully Time Lord, and I am far more clever than you."

"I'm sorry to interrupt, boys," said Seraphina. Both men turned to look at her. "I believe my TARDIS is trying to get my attention. There's something going on in Control Room C."


	7. Returning to You

Back in Seraphina's TARDIS, Rose watched the monitor, picking at her nails as she waited for the Doctor to return.

This really wasn't in her nature, following orders and staying put. She'd gotten better at it over her years of working with Torchwood, but it still took a supreme amount of effort not to get involved in a situation she was told to stay out of.

Especially, she was finding, when the Doctor was involved.

Rose thought back on her travels with the Doctor, remembering the times they were separated, how nothing felt right until they were reunited, two halves of a whole once again joined.

Of course, the joining became more literal shortly before they were parted at Canary Wharf, but if she were being honest with herself, she'd missed the things they'd always done, the handholding and the hugs, almost as much as the shagging.

Almost.

Now, alone in someone else's TARDIS, Rose worked to convince herself to stay where she was. She knew she was an asset in many different situations, but this was a case in which she'd be more hindrance than help; she was unfamiliar with the planet, the customs, and the inhabitants. That could possibly have been overcome had they taken some time before landing, but Rose knew she didn't have the Time Lord mind that the Doctor and Seraphina seemed able to sense from each other, and she wasn't sure that could be faked.

She stood up from her seat again and started pacing, taking just a few steps before turning back, glancing at the monitor every other time she passed it.

The third time she looked at the screen, Rose came to a sudden stop. A girl was in the room outside. She looked to be in her mid-to-late teens. She was thin, and straight blond hair reached her lower back. She was looking around the room as if searching for something out of place. The girl's eyes narrowed and stopped directly on the TARDIS.

"Mum?" the girl asked. "Is that you?"

Rose blinked, suddenly realizing what language she must be speaking, wondering whether all TARDISes were able to translate Gallifreyan when they chose to. Though she'd been used to needing a translation in her alien interactions on Earth, traveling off-planet with the Doctor and hearing things in English was so normal for her that she hadn't even considered that she might hear a translation of the Doctor's native language. The few times the Doctor had spoken in Gallifreyan, she hadn't been able to understand it.

Rose continued watching the monitor. The girl seemed hesitant to come any closer to the disguised time-and-space ship.

"You know I won't go in there when I'm not on a leave-day from school," said the blonde. "TARDIS travel isn't allowed on school days, and I won't risk a misunderstanding this soon after the last student was caught."

Rose sighed. Remembering how she'd felt just days earlier when she didn't think she'd see her mother again, prepared as she was to stay with the Doctor when her mother returned home, she didn't feel right ignoring this girl's search. She could offer comfort, if nothing else.

"I won't leave the room," she told herself. "I'll get out of the TARDIS, but I'm not leaving the control room. Then I'm not really _leaving_ the TARDIS," she reasoned, "just stepping outside of it."

Pleased with her logic, Rose moved to the TARDIS doors, opened them, and stepped through.

As Rose stepped into view from what appeared to be a superfluous, cabinet-sized computer, the other girl's eyes widened marginally.

"Hullo," said Rose kindly. "You're looking for your mum?"

"Yes," came the girl's response, more formal than Rose had expected. "I apologize. I seem to have been mistakenly informed as to the location of Seraphina's TARDIS. I shall leave now."

"Wait," said Rose as the girl turned to leave, "You're Lucia, right?"

"Yes," she responded cautiously. She frowned as she studied Rose, who could see the moment Lucia realized Rose wasn't exactly a local. "Who are you?" she asked, sidling closer to a computer panel.

"I'm a friend of your mum's," said Rose quickly, before Lucia could alert someone about her presence. Lucia paused but didn't relax.

"May I inquire as to her current location?" the girl queried.

Rose gave her a little smile as she tried to decide how much to tell this law-abiding daughter of Seraphina's.

"She's helping someone. Something to do with the government, I think," she said, trying to avoid an outright lie.

Lucia didn't look convinced.

"Since when has Mother begun traveling with lesser species?" asked Lucia.

Rose sighed. So much for liking Seraphina's daughter at first impression.

"Right," said Rose, resigned. "She's just got us along for one trip. Needed my friend's help with something important."

Lucia's posture relaxed marginally, but she didn't move any further from the panel she'd tried to reach.

"If she landed you in a control room, even an inactivated one, Mother must trust you," she said.

"What's it control, then, this control room?" asked Rose, studying the various pieces of equipment, all of which looked to her like some form of computer.

"The control rooms are used to monitor time streams, time stability, parallel integrity, regenerations, and everything that is related to travel through time and space," explained Lucia, a hint of pride in her otherwise-flat voice. "In addition, it is equipped to deal with any emergencies or unplanned events that might arise relating to any of these aspects of traveling as a Time Lord."

"What about if there's an emergency need for chips?" asked Rose, attempting to get the girl to relax. When she got a blank stare in response, Rose continued, "Never mind. So do you know how to use these, then?"

"I do," answered Lucia, holding herself even more erect. "I was trained as a control room technician. I was the best in my class, the best controller the Academy has seen in years." She paused, deflating slightly. "After the shift, all of the equipment relating to travel through parallel universes ceased to work correctly. Eventually, Control Room C was abandoned, and fewer controllers were needed. Mum always lands here when she can. She knows it will be empty, and she knows I like to see the room."

"Couldn't you just work in a different control room since you were so good?" asked Rose.

Lucia shook her head.

"Though each control room has the same types of equipment, each specializes in a different area of concentration," she told Rose as if reciting the information from memory. "Control Room A is for standard time monitoring, Control Room B is for crossed time streams, and Control Room C is for parallel travel. The controllers for each are trained to work in the specific, specialized room, and I trained for Control Room C. The room was very busy when the shift first occurred, but I had not yet completed my training and was unable to assist in the efforts to return Gallifrey to the Prime Universe. After approximately twelve months of the greatest Time Lord minds all attempting to reconnect any of this room's equipment to another parallel, the room was abandoned by order of Almerin."

"And that's who your mum works for, yeah?" said Rose.

Lucia nodded.

"He is a competent enough leader, but he does not wish to resume parallel travel, it seems," said Lucia, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Do all humans inspire the desire to speak uncensored? I feel as if I can tell you my desires without fear of repercussions, as I do with my pet. That is not logical since you are sentient, technically."

"Thanks," said Rose, just managing to prevent an eye roll. "So, you don't really care for Almerin, then?"

"It is not my place to care for him or not," responded Lucia emotionlessly. "I did prefer our society prior to the shift, Time War effects excluded, of course. Currently, our society does not quite adhere to Rassilon's design. It is… uncomfortable. I do believe that the majority of the differences stem from the lack of available travel to parallel words. This has limited both ability and desire to travel, especially for those reserved or cautious enough to wish to avoid visiting places in this particular parallel rather than in the correct one. As a result, many societal values are beginning to shift."

"If my friend could put it back, get Gallifrey back where it belongs, would you be willing to help?" Rose asked Lucia.

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, a voice came from the direction of a blank screen on the other side of the room.

"Listen to me, you lot. Listen," came a female voice. Rose frowned and moved in the direction of the voice, vaguely aware that Lucia was following. "Help him. Help him change the future. Do it. Do something."

"None of these monitors or systems should be on," said Lucia, sounding puzzled. "They've all been deactivated. They would only be activated if we regained a connection to another parallel."

"You've been asking a question, and it's time someone told you, you've been getting it wrong," continued the woman's voice emanating from the equipment.

"Who the hell is she talking to?" asked Rose, eyeing the speaker attached to a blank screen as Lucia started doing something on the nearest keyboard, hands moving quickly.

"His name," came the voice again, "his name is the Doctor."

Rose froze and continued to listen as Lucia tapped away at the keys.

"All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him. And if you love him, and you should, help him. Help him," the voice finished in a whisper.

Rose covered her mouth as her eyes teared slightly, picturing the Doctor as he left her on the beach, picturing him desperate for help, sending a message that was reaching her despite its impossibility.

"Lucia, can we answer her?" said Rose. "Can we do anything?"

"I'm trying to raise a visual," Lucia responded curtly. "None of this should be functional at all, so I'm unable to verify whether we will be able to provide assistance until I know what is happening. I'm attempting to adjust the location slightly because there seems to be some interference at the voice's point of origin. I hope that it will be near enough to ascertain the problem."

"There has to be something we can do. It's the Doctor," said Rose. "The Doctor is the one with the best chance of getting Gallifrey back where you want it."

Lucia looked thoughtfully at Rose for a moment before resuming typing, occasionally reaching to press buttons on the machine next to the one she was concentrating on. The monitor flickered, suddenly providing a visual. The screen wasn't filled, static covering most of it, but through the sliver of static-free space, Rose could see a battle raging.

A town was being attacked. Lights flashed, fires flickered, people ran and screamed as something metallic flew through the air.

"Are those…" started Rose.

"Daleks," finished Lucia, emotion showing in her voice for the first time as a flash of fear crossed her face.

Rose spotted an old man at the center of the view screen.

"Can you zoom in or anything?" she asked, pointing to the man.

"I can't," said Lucia, "but I am getting readings. It's a Time Lord, confirmed identification listed as 'Doctor.' Sensors indicate he has used all of his regenerations."

"Well, can't you… give him more or something? You said that was something you could control from here, yeah?" asked Rose, desperation creeping into her voice as she watched shots fly near the Doctor.

"The technology is here, yes," answered Lucia, "but the members of the High Council are the only ones who can authorize that."

Another shot hit a target close to the Doctor.

"We can't just let this happen," Rose said almost frantically. "We can fix this! He's the only one who can return Gallifrey to its rightful place. Isn't that what the High Council would want, anyway? And they aren't here to approve it, but you are. You can. The Doctor's the only one who can help, and I can't just watch him die!"

Lucia paused, an assessing look aimed at Rose.

"You can't stop!" Rose told her. "You have to do this, you have to help, or you're never going to get things back to how they should be. This is the only way, do you understand? The Doctor is brilliant and amazing and he can fix this, but he can't do it if he's dead. I've seen him save so many worlds, and now _you_ have to save _him_!"

Lucia nodded once and returned to the keyboard, typing even faster than before, fingers flying across the keys.

"We have just one chance at this," she told Rose as she worked. "It is imperative that you be correct, because I want things back the way they should be. Press that button," she finished, indicating one in front of Rose.

Rose complied, and she immediately saw a flash of light across the screen for a moment, then watched that light reach the Doctor through the static obscuring her view.

"You will die now, Doctor," came the mechanical, rage-filled voice from the speakers.

Light started emitting from the Doctor's hands, and the view started to shrink.

"What's happening?" asked Rose.

"This is the end of you," said the Dalek's voice as the image was obscured completely, the monitor fading to black and audio ceasing.

"I had to send a new cycle. A single life didn't hold enough power to cross the dimensions since they still seem to have been sealed apart from the one crack. The surge in sending the new regeneration cycle was strong enough to break the connection," explained Lucia. "However, I was able to verify that it was received. He will regenerate rather than die." She paused, looking down at hands she folded in her lap, looking young to Rose for the first time since she started speaking. "Did I do the right thing?" she said in a small voice.

"You absolutely did the right thing," said Rose firmly, pushing aside her own nearly-overwhelming emotions to try to help Lucia. "He's a good man, and if he shifted Gallifrey, he had a good reason, and he's your only way back. The High Council would have done the same thing, I'm sure of it."

Lucia curled her hands into fists, clearly fighting an internal battle. Rose's arm twitched as she fought the impulse to give the girl a hug, fairly certain it would upset her further rather than help calm the young Gallifreyan. Lucia took a deep breath, relaxing her hands again as she let it out.

"Thank you," she said calmly. "I almost forgot for a moment that you are just a human."

Rose took a steadying breath of her own before speaking again.

"So he's alright, then?" she confirmed. "His regenerations, they looked pretty violent before, and you said this one was stronger, so…"

"This will have a stronger surge than is typical, yes," replied Lucia, seeming fully back to herself. "However, he will be able to direct the surge as needed and should be able to avoid any unintended casualties among the humans around him, if that is your concern."

"Thanks," said Rose, trying to calm her breathing and heart rate. She sat in the closest chair, put her elbows on her knees, and covered her face for a moment as she regained her equilibrium, trying to banish the image of the Doctor, aged, alone, surrounded by violence.

She took one more deliberate breath, dropped her hands, and looked back at Lucia, who was sitting in a chair just a couple feet away, facing Rose.

"You are an unusual human, I think," said Lucia, watching Rose closely. "Your clothes reflect a time period in which the Earth is not particularly familiar with non-terrestrial species, and yet you seem to think nothing of being on a different planet. You've seen Time Lords regenerate, you know the Doctor, and you traveled here with my mother."

"What do you know about the Doctor?" Rose said in response, out of both curiosity and a lack of ideas about how else to honestly answer the implied question.

"I know that he is unusual for a Time Lord. He spent a lot of time on Earth, some of it a punishment rather than a choice," said Lucia. "I know that I heard Almerin discussing the fact that the Doctor shifted the planet when those in the War Room thought all was lost."

Rose nodded, acknowledging what Lucia had said.

"Okay," said Rose. "Well, I met the Doctor years ago on Earth. I traveled with him. After a while, we came across some Daleks, and he… he regenerated. I stayed with him longer, until we were separated. I don't… I don't really know how it works, but I guess without you lot in the Prime Universe, parallel travel couldn't be stabilized, so it took years to get back to him. I finally found him, and he regenerated again, Daleks again, but it was different. He did something with the energy, put it in a hand he'd got cut off, and then when a friend touched it…"

"Biological metacrisis," interrupted Lucia, looking fascinated.

"Right," said Rose. "So me and him, the newer Doctor, we came back to this universe through cracks before the walls sealed again, and then we met your mum. So, that's how all that unusual stuff happened with me, basically," she finished.

Lucia sat quietly, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I think that's _what_ happened to you," said Lucia after a long minute, "but I don't think that's why you're unusual. I don't think all Time Lords could handle some of those situations, so for a member of a lesser species… I may have to reconsider my thought processes as they relate to those who aren't born on Gallifrey."

Rose wondered how the Doctor had come from a planet that thought so little of other species. As much as he did have a tendency to brag about his superior biology, the Doctor seemed to genuinely love interacting with other species, mixing with them, getting to know them. Except, of course, when it came to Daleks...

Rose shook her head, focusing back on Lucia.

"Yeah," she told her. "I had to learn real quick, travelling with the Doctor, that just because people are from another time or place and seem… lesser, chances are good that the people will surprise you. Everybody's got something different to offer, even if sometimes it's not a good thing, like a knack for showing people the wrong end of a gun."

Rose turned, hearing the door to the control room open. She stood, prepared to fight or run if need be, and saw a man she didn't recognize. Behind him, however, were Seraphina and the Doctor, Seraphina looking irritated and the Doctor concerned.

When Rose met his eyes, a feeling of relief clearly passed over the Doctor, intensifying as he saw she appeared to be unharmed.

Unable to stay where she was after nearly having watched his counterpart die, Rose darted across the room, dodging the unknown Time Lord, and flung herself into the Doctor's arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, breathing her in as had become his habit.

"Rose Tyler," he said, voice muffled slightly by her neck, "what trouble has found you this time?"


	8. Even Time Can Stop

_Unable to stay where she was after nearly having watched his counterpart die, Rose darted across the room, dodging the unknown Time Lord, and flung herself into the Doctor's arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, breathing her in as had become his habit._

_"Rose Tyler," he said, voice muffled slightly by her neck, "what trouble has found you this time?"_

"You almost died," she told him, fighting tears of both sorrow and relief.

"I'm fine, Rose. I'm okay, and I'm right here," said the Doctor in a careful voice.

"And I'm running low on both time and patience," said the man Rose hadn't met.

The Doctor pulled back from Rose slightly, looking into her eyes to verify she was all right before nodding once and stepping away, taking her hand firmly in his as he did so.

"Rose, this is Almerin. Almerin, this is my Rose," the Doctor said by way of introduction, his expression hard, eyes flashing with the unspoken warning that Rose was not to be harmed in any way.

"A human. Of course," said Almerin with a sneer.

Seraphina moved past him to greet her daughter, bumping into Almerin as she passed.

"Whoops, so sorry, Almerin, I didn't see you there," she said in her clear voice before reaching Lucia. "Are you okay, baby?" she asked, touching her face gently and briefly before dropping her hand.

Lucia nodded, then shook her head.

"I don't know, Mum," she said in a shaky voice, sounding younger than she looked instead of like the knowledgeable young woman Rose had dealt with for most of their time together.

"What happened?" asked Seraphina, concerned.

"I don't have time for this," interrupted Almerin. "The only reason I allowed you to come directly here rather than escorting you to a secure location to further discuss the situation is that I assumed we could keep distractions to a minimum and quickly get back to the issue at hand. If I was mistaken, I am quite willing to rectify that by moving this conversation to an interrogation room."

"That won't be necessary," the Doctor said firmly. He turned to look at Rose, his expression softening into the look he reserved only for her. "I can tell something happened and that you are both shaken up," he said gently, "but is it something that urgently needs to be discussed?"

Rose shook her head. If she'd understood right, nothing could be done anymore to access their home universe, so it was more important to deal with the man who was an immediate threat.

He squeezed her hand and, after one last searching look into her eyes, turned back to Almerin.

"We need to find a way to keep the High Council from destroying everything, and you need to stop running Gallifrey using blackmail," said the Doctor.

"I agree that we need to stop the High Council. However, what makes you think you have any say at all as to how I lead?" asked Almerin.

"Welll," said the Doctor lightly, "you aren't the only one who can use blackmail, and I can tell the world that a single Time Lord, one who's now part-human at that, was able to shift the entire planet and that you can't find a way to put it back. I might also accidentally let slip that you've been using blackmail to get good people to work for you."

Rose heard a small intake of breath from Lucia before Seraphina chimed in.

"I don't know about all of us being good people," she said with a bit of a laugh, "but that might make it even worse, if the public finds out the type of people you've decided are needed for running Gallifrey."

"And you would risk the chaos, Doctor?" asked Almerin. "You threaten me with a situation that would cause the planet to spiral out of control."

"It's worth the risk to keep you from becoming just as power hungry as Rassilon," responded the Doctor. "I've sacrificed a planet to save the rest of the universe before, and I'll do it again, if I have to."

Rose heard the slight catch in his voice and felt him squeezing her hand for support, but Almerin didn't seem to have noticed, despite his superior senses.

"And if, in theory," said Almerin, "I were to agree to your demands, what would they entail?"

"We place another time lock around the current one so that the High Council can't get out if they try to release their own," said the Doctor. "We remove any other connections that may be active and available for exploitation. You release those employees who don't want to stay with you, and you adhere to Gallifreyan guidelines instead of your own. You haven't strayed far yet, but you will not impose new rules simply to further your control. You will continue to enforce the laws that are in place to protect other civilizations, as well as those laws that are in place to protect the people of Gallifrey."

Almerin gave the Doctor a look of disgust.

"And you, Doctor," he said, "you who are so human now, you will risk everything for the sake of the Time Lords you've run away from?"

"To protect the universe, yes," said the Doctor, voice deep and sincere. "I will drop my shields in an instant and broadcast the truth to everyone if it will be better in the long run. Not all will believe, but enough will that your reign will be shaken permanently."

"Very well," replied Almerin, "but I have one more condition; you are again exiled from Gallifrey, never allowed to return."

The Doctor gave a careful nod.

"Then I accept these terms," said Almerin, pleased he got the final word in for the negotiation.

"Alright, then," said the Doctor in his normal voice. "I'll need both you and Seraphina in order to get the lock secure enough. We can do most of it from here, but we'll need to actually activate it closer to the chambers, of course."

The Doctor turned to Rose and gave her a kiss on the temple before releasing her hand and moving over to Almerin.

Rose watched them step over to a corner of the room and start consulting, fiddling with sonic screwdrivers and various bits of electronics that appeared from bigger-on-the-inside pockets. Seraphina followed, listening intently but offering little.

Emotionally drained, Rose sat in the nearest seat, looking up at Lucia and gesturing for the girl to do the same.

"You okay, then?" Rose asked Lucia.

"I am better now," she said. "I just saw a lesser version of the man we saved bring our planet closer to how it should be with a single conversation. I believe more firmly now that you were correct, that the Doctor in the Prime Universe is the person who will return things to how they were meant to be."

"Yeah," said Rose softly, turning to look at her Doctor. "This one isn't lesser, though. Different, yeah, in some ways, but not in the ways that count. I've seen him change before, and it doesn't make him any less amazing."

The Doctor looked toward Rose, met her eyes with a grateful look, and then turned back to his discussion, leaving Rose wondering whether he'd heard them from across the small room.

As she considered her comparisons between the two versions of her Doctor, she swallowed hard and looked down at her lap, trying to reconcile what she knew was true, that the Doctor was here, with the fact that she still felt abandoned by the Doctor who left her on the beach again so very recently. She was also struggling with having almost watched the Doctor regenerate yet again so soon after she'd watched his near-regeneration with Jack and Donna. Her Doctor had left her and had stayed with her at the same time, he had changed so much and yet not at all, and he had already spent so much time without her since they separated not even two days earlier. To say it was a confusing situation was an understatement.

"I suppose it is a similar process to regeneration," said Lucia thoughtfully, "since he seems to have retained his mental capabilities. How did he become so human?"

"Biological metacrisis was triggered by a human," said Rose.

"Fascinating," said Lucia, turning to look at the others in time to see her mother walking toward her and Rose. "Hello, Mum," she added, causing Rose to look up at Seraphina.

"They're nearly done," said Seraphina. "Really not much I can do to help for this part, though they'll need me for the actual activation." Seraphina took a seat across from the two younger women. "Can you tell me what happened now?"

"Why," came Almerin's booming voice, "have these devices been touched?" he asked, pointing at a keyboard slightly askew and a chair out of place where Rose and Lucia had been earlier.

"There was an activation of the primary parallel monitors," said Lucia. "However, the connection was brief and could not be reestablished."

"I've had a signal programmed to broadcast backwards and forwards through centuries of time," said Almerin angrily. "I've gotten no response in the two years I've had it running, no indication that it was working, and you're just telling me _now_ that the connection activated? What did you do?"

Lucia stood, took a breath, and made her way over toward Almerin, Rose and Seraphina following suit.

"We were merely in the room," said Lucia, "and the connection became active. We heard a voice and were briefly able to manage a partial visual and gain access to standard readings and controls. The link was too fragile for me to attempt to contact anyone outside of this room in case the interference severed the connection."

"And what did you see?" asked Almerin as the Doctor took Rose's hand.

Rose looked at the Doctor and saw understanding, sadness, frustration, and love. From her behavior when they arrived and from the information Lucia had just shared, the Doctor already had a good idea of what they had seen.

"I had it programmed to contact the Doctor," continued Almerin when Lucia took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Were you able to speak with him? Did he say anything about how we shifted and how we can get back?"

"We were unable to make contact," said Lucia. "We were, however, able to prevent his demise, which means the possibility exists for contacting him in the future if we can deduce the factor behind the connection's becoming functional."

"Well," said the Doctor, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand, "that might actually have been my fault. When I accessed the time lock, it is entirely possible that it reached a time that was occurring in the Prime Universe. In that case, it could have temporarily breached the walls between universes just enough to let the signal through, just a bit. It probably ended when the connection shorted out on my end."

"Actually," said Lucia, "I suspect the short originated from this room rather than from what you were doing. I sent a new regeneration cycle," she said, voice calm as she lifted her chin slightly. "It was the only way to save him, and it was too much for the link to remain stable."

"Because the surge would have overwhelmed anything that was tied to the connection," said the Doctor excitedly, and Rose smiled at his ability to enjoy new information even in situations that should be impossible to embrace with enthusiasm.

"Can we just try a different connection, then?" asked Seraphina.

"No," said Almerin. "The surge will have thoroughly damaged any other existing connections." He paused, aiming a measuring look at Lucia. "I am impressed that you were able to do that. Had it not furthered my purposes, though, you would have found yourself in exile along with the Doctor."

Lucia nodded, remaining quiet, head tilting more toward the floor as her shoulders hunched forward. Seraphina put her arm around her daughter.

"Very well, then," Almerin said. "I believe we are prepared to activate the secondary time lock." He paused, turning to face the Doctor directly. "Did you access the service roster when you were investigating the High Council's time lock?" he asked, a challenging look on his face.

The Doctor nodded, again squeezing Rose's hand for support.

"I know she's in there," he said, ignoring Almerin's smirk in response.

"And you're still willing to do it?" Almerin asked.

"I wouldn't do it if it weren't the best option," he replied.

"Excellent," said Almerin. "Let's go, then," he said, walking through the room and out the door.

"I am returning to class, Mum," said Lucia, giving her mother, Rose, and the Doctor each a quick nod before she left. Seraphina followed Almerin next.

"Who was he talking about?" Rose asked the Doctor as they, too, started toward the door.

His jaw worked and he swallowed hard.

"Later," he said as the exited the room, quickly falling in behind Seraphina and Almerin.

Rose nodded, watching him for a moment before looking around the hallway.

"Is it safe for me to be going with you?" she asked.

"Yep," said the Doctor. "Nobody will try to probe any unusual mental signatures around Almerin. It could be seen as trying to access what he has shielded, and even without knowing about some of the more questionable methods he has resorted to, there's not anyone here who would risk that misunderstanding."

The group went into a room to the left. When Rose took in her surroundings, she saw an ornate room, an entryway to another, the secondary door closed. The walls were red, covered with intricate golden designs to match the gold trim on the doorways. Almerin placed two different electronic devices on the ground near the inner door.

"They're in there," the Doctor told Rose. "We were able to set up the equipment beforehand, but we have to be nearly adjacent to the current time lock in order to place the secondary one. This time lock will need to combine Time Lord technology with Time Lord mental abilities in this exact location."

"It's best if you step outside for this part," Seraphina told Rose. "Because we will be strengthening the lock using abilities that aren't compatible with your mind's structure, it's safer if you're out of the room."

The Doctor nodded at Rose, and she gave him a quick hug before leaving, shutting the door behind her.

Rose leaned against the wall of the hallway, facing the closed door, watching closely. She heard a mechanical whirring, indeterminate talking, and loud clanking before she saw a brief flash.

She had been in the hallway again for barely a minute before the door opened once more, the Doctor stepping out first.

"That was quick," said Rose as the Doctor moved to her, wrapping his arms around her, his heart racing.

"Yeah," he said, "but now it's done."

Rose held him as he calmed down, giving him what strength she could. After a long moment, he inhaled deeply and pulled back.

Rose looked around.

"Did Almerin leave already?" she asked.

"Yeah," said the Doctor. "He has people that he needs to inform about no longer being blackmailed. Sera's going to see that he follows through, after she takes us home."

He took Rose's hand, and they followed Seraphina back to Control Room C.

"What do you think, Rose, do you want to take a detour before you go back to Earth? I wouldn't mind thanking you for your troubles, and it sounds like fun," asked Seraphina as they entered the room.

Rose shook her head.

"No, but thanks," she said as Seraphina went into her TARDIS. Rose took one last look at the screen on which she'd seen the Doctor, her other Doctor, before she followed, the part-human Doctor immediately behind her. "We have things we need to talk about, things we need to figure out."

"Plus," added the Doctor, "We need you here to make sure Almerin behaves. You'll contact us the second he steps out of line, yes?"

Seraphina rolled her eyes as she started programming coordinates into the center console..

"Of course I will. Though," she added, "what do you plan to do if your own blackmail doesn't keep Almerin from his, or from worse?"

"Eh, don't really do plans, me, not usually," said the Doctor, joining Seraphina in manipulating the controls. "We manage to sort things out anyway." He turned to look at Rose, who was standing near the doors. "Come on, Rose," he said with a smile. "Let's go home."

Rose joined him at the console, and soon the TARDIS was dematerializing, taking them back to Earth and to the unplanned future ahead of them.


	9. You Can't Go Home Again

Seraphina landed the TARDIS back in London without incident.

"You're sure you don't want one quick trip?" she offered, and Rose shook her head.

The Doctor moved to stand behind Rose, an arm around her as he spoke.

"You'll be careful, and you'll stay in touch, yes?" he said.

"Yeah, yeah," replied Seraphina. "Always am careful when it suits me. I'll stay in touch as long as I get to talk to your Rose. That okay with you, snicker doodle?" she asked with a wink at the Doctor.

"Rose decides who she talks to," he said, and Rose smirked at his attempt at diplomacy.

"C'mon, Doctor," she said, turning enough to place a hand on his chest. "Let's go. I'll talk to you later, Sera."

Rose and the Doctor turned to walk out of the TARDIS.

"I'll talk to you soon," called Seraphina, already fiddling with the controls before the couple had even closed the door behind them.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk, joining hands without conscious thought as they walked.

"We weren't gone long, right?" asked Rose.

"Right," confirmed the Doctor. "Only about ten minutes have passed here on this Earth."

They walked in silence for a moment before Rose stopped walking. The Doctor paused as well, turning to look at her quizzically. Rose wrapped her arms around his waist, hiding her face in his chest. His arms wound around her and held her tight, a charged silence indicating he was waiting for her to speak.

"It's been just two days, Doctor," she said, pulling him tighter. "I found you, and then you almost regenerated, and then there was another… well, you turned up, and all that with Davros and the Daleks, and then he just left us here, and then everything with Gallifrey…" She trailed off, taking deliberate breaths as the Doctor stroked her hair lightly. "So much has happened, and I'm just not sure how to deal with it all at once, you know? And you've got so much to deal with, too."

"Mmmm," the Doctor said in agreement, pulling back to see her face, "but I've also got you, and that makes everything better. C'mon, let's get somewhere we can relax."

She nodded, and they continued their walk back to Torchwood and to her living quarters.

O~O~O~O~O~O

Rose let out a breath of relief as she locked them into her room. She turned away from the door only to be caught up immediately in the Doctor's embrace, his lips crashing down onto hers with both desperation and passion.

Rose met his enthusiasm with her own before taking control and slowing the kiss.

"I know I did this yesterday, too," she said, pulling away only as much as she needed in order to speak, "but we need to talk first before we get carried away, yeah?"

"Yeah," breathed the Doctor, his reluctance obvious as he pulled her even closer for a moment before sitting on the small sofa, patting the seat next to him.

Rose sat, angling herself toward the Doctor and taking his hand.

"Where do you want to start?" asked the Doctor, watching her face as he rubbed his thumb along her knuckles.

Grateful he was willing to talk things through instead of changing the subject or running away as he'd often done in the past, Rose started talking.

"What happened while you and Sera were gone, on Gallifrey?" she asked. "I mean, I figured out parts of it, but I didn't really get the whole story, was a bit distracted."

"Not too much story to get," said the Doctor. "We went to where we could access the intercom system that was connected to the High Council's chambers. I was able to make a partial connection in time for Almerin to overhear Rassilon's plans to end all of time, and then the connection was cut when Lucia sent the regeneration cycle through."

Rose thought for a moment.

"What was the Doctor… what were you…" She paused, trying to organize her thoughts. "When I saw him from the control room, he was old. I mean, I know you're already old, but you don't look it, right? He looked like it, like he was old enough to… What were you doing while I was trying to get back to you? What's his life like now, that he got so old? I didn't really know that could happen."

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck as he considered his reply.

"When we were apart," he said, "for those years, I was… I spent them trying to find myself again, I suppose. Martha, she had to put up with me missing you constantly. By the time I started traveling with Donna, I was in a better place. Still missed you, of course, all the time. But I was better. There were times early on that I wouldn't have cared if my life… Well, I wasn't in a good place." He took a breath. "Having lost you again after thinking I finally had you back, even knowing I lost you to give you a better life, I…"

Rose squeezed his hand, fighting tears.

"His world is going to be very dark for a while," the Doctor continued after a moment. "He's going to be alone. Even Donna, she… It's unlikely she'll be able to remain with him. The human mind isn't designed to function like a Time Lord's. He'll need to wipe her mind, or she'll die. She'll be safe, though, after he locks away the memories that are dangerous for her."

"So Donna, after all she did… And he's traveling alone again?" she asked, a tear escaping when the Doctor nodded.

"As for how he aged, well," the Doctor started, "Time Lords age anyway, just really slowly. They age faster if they're separated from their TARDISes. Still slowly, not as quickly as a human does, so for him to have looked that old, it has to have been," he ran a hand through his hair, "centuries, at least. Possibly more if he was in contact with his TARDIS the whole time. However, you may have noticed I don't usually last all that long between regenerations anymore, so I suspect he was without the TARDIS, mostly safe but stranded where he was when you saw him."

Rose lost her composure.

"He was alone for that long?" she sniffed, and the Doctor pulled her into his lap, her legs across his, her face buried into the hollow of his throat.

He held her as she cried, unsure what he could say that might help.

"When I saw him," she managed after a few minutes, "I felt like I was losing him all over again. I panicked. I would've said anything to get Lucia to help."

"I know it might take some time," said the Doctor, working to keep his tone even, "before you really think of me as him..."

Rose interrupted him, shaking her head.

"No," she said firmly. "I realized that, really accepted it after it was over, after I got to calm down." She stopped, looking him in the eye. "I'd do anything to save you. It doesn't matter what you look like, how you talk, or how many hearts you've got. You're still my Doctor, and I'm never gonna leave you."

He pulled her closer again.

"And you'd better make this life last a lot longer than your last two," she added with a sniff.

"Quite right, too," he said, and she gave a watery laugh before slapping his chest lightly.

They sat like that for a few quiet minutes, breathing each other in.

"So," said Rose finally, "how long do you think Almerin's gonna behave himself?"

The Doctor sighed.

"As long as everything continues like it has been," he said, "we might not have any trouble in our relatively-abbreviated lifetimes. There are several things related to that, though, that I want to check once the TARDIS is fully grown. I might be better able to figure out what happened, why the walls are shut even with the Time Lords here to stabilize them. With the High Council firmly locked away, we have some time. Really, blackmail isn't all that bad, considering. Mostly I was concerned that the power was going to his head, that he'd gotten too much, too quickly, and he'd decided he was above any of the laws that are in place to protect… well, everything. When we are able to travel in the TARDIS again, though, we can visit other worlds in our future. If something catastrophic has happened to Gallifrey, we should be able to tell without setting foot on Gallifrey itself."

"And the TARDIS will be ready in fifteen months, you said?" asked Rose.

"Yup," answered the Doctor. "Speaking of, we're going to need to find somewhere to grow it. Are you… Do you want us to keep living here? I mean, that's fine, if you want, but we might have a little trouble getting enough space and equipment for the TARDIS to grow in your room."

"I'm not attached to this place, Doctor," said Rose. "I lived here because it was convenient, because I didn't have anywhere else I wanted to be. I mean, I enjoyed visiting Mum and Dad and Tony, of course, and spending time with Mickey, but I never felt… I wanted to be wherever I was closest to getting back to you."

"Would be best to start looking for somewhere right away, then," said the Doctor. "That way, we can get the TARDIS growing sooner rather than later. Should we get a flat? Or maybe a house?"

Rose searched his face, seeing minimal signs of panic at the thought of a mortgage.

"I dunno," she said. "What do you think?"

"A house will give us more space," he said, "especially if we decide to… well…"

He trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

"If we decide to what, Doctor?" asked Rose.

"Do we want to have children?" he asked, continuing before she could respond. "I mean, not that we have to, and I did already have children once, but you haven't, and I don't know whether you want to, and it's not something I need, per se, but it isn't something I would object to, either, especially since we're now both human, or at least mostly, and we're likely to be able to procreate, and isn't that part of the whole human experience anyway…"

"Doctor," interrupted Rose. "Take a breath."

He complied, watching Rose as he did so.

"I don't know whether I want kids," she told him. "I hadn't thought it was a possibility with you, and I haven't really had a moment to think about it since you became this version of you."

He nodded his understanding.

"We can go ahead and get a house," added Rose. "You said the amount of space is a problem here, and by the time we find a flat that's big enough, may as well get a house, yeah? Give us something to do while we wait for the TARDIS, something for you to fiddle with."

"I can think of other things I'd like to fiddle with," he said in response, tilting his head to lightly nibble on her neck.

Rose laughed.

"Having trouble controlling those hormone levels again, Doctor?" she asked him, tongue between her teeth.

"Mmm," he hummed in agreement, "it's rather difficult with the beautiful Rose Tyler on my lap."

She laughed again and kissed his cheek, just brushing the corner of his mouth, before getting off his lap and moving to the other side of the sofa, putting her feet in his lap instead.

"This better, Doctor?" she asked him, smirking a bit at the pout on his face.

"Hardly," he responded. "Rose Tyler addiction is a serious problem, I'll have you know. The only remedy is time in bed. Lots and lots of time in bed."

Rose smiled at him, watching his familiar face. He beamed at her in response. They sat quietly, contentedly for a few minutes as Rose tried to remember whether there was anything else she'd wanted to discuss before they could move the conversation to the bed.

"Almerin," she started, "he said… he asked if you knew who was in the time lock, yeah?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Who was he talking about?" she asked, seeing that he needed the prompting.

"He was talking about…," he tried. "She was… Families are different on Gallifrey. The looming process, it means that parents aren't quite the same as they are on Earth, so it wasn't quite like if she were Jackie, but…"

"So she was…" Rose trailed off, realizing why he'd been so upset, beyond his having to lock away his world's leaders.

"Yeah," he responded, studying her feet in his lap intently.

"'S'okay, Doctor," said Rose. "We don't need to talk about that anymore right now."

He nodded, still looking down, and she moved back over to him to wrap him in a tight hug.

"Let's move to the bed, yeah?" she suggested after a minute, yawning. "I'm knackered."

The Doctor nodded, and they quickly removed their soiled clothing, stripping down to knickers and pants, and got into bed, slipping under the covers. Rose's back was pressed to the Doctor's chest as his arms wrapped around her, her own arms covering his.

"We'll need to be careful," said the Doctor. "I mean, with Almerin. Well, not really careful as much as cautious. I don't think he'd do anything to harm us. He's going to want to keep me around in case I'm able to help shift Gallifrey, and, well, you're just a human to him. You're not a threat, and he doesn't know how much I love you, how much I need you. Wouldn't even occur to him that it's possible. But it's a good idea for us to be aware of things, just in case."

"I'll let Dad know, too," said Rose. "If it won't hurt for us to be on guard, won't hurt for Torchwood to be, too. If he tries to get rid of you, that means he wants to be the type of leader that could be a threat to other planets, yeah? Which makes it Torchwood business, too."

"Are you going to keep working for Torchwood?" asked the Doctor as the question occurred to him.

Rose shrugged.

"Don't see why not, at least until we get the TARDIS going," she answered. "Not something I'm set on, though. Always figured I wouldn't come back one day, working with the Dimension Cannon and all." She paused. "Why'd we let Almerin stay in charge if he's a risk to everyone?"

The Doctor sighed.

"He's more useful than not," he said. "He's done a good job of keeping the planet calm. Can you imagine the chaos if a planet full of time travelers suddenly panicked?" The Doctor shuddered. "Locking the High Council would have been pointless. Time would crumble nearly immediately."

"Mmm," said Rose in agreement. "Yeah, that wouldn't be the best thing to happen."

She yawned again, and the Doctor pulled her even closer to him.

"Go to sleep, Rose," said the Doctor. "We've got the rest of our lives together to talk."

Rose smiled with her eyes closed, already drifting off to sleep, feeling safe, loved, and protected by the man she adored.

"Forever," she mumbled as the long couple of days caught up to her.

The Doctor buried his nose in her hair a moment, inhaling deeply.

"Forever," he agreed in a whisper before he, too, drifted off to sleep.


End file.
